In Which There is An Adventure Through Hoenn
by Wardove706
Summary: In Which Darius, a boy with amnesia, travels through Hoenn with a fiery girl named May, trying to find who he is, why he's in Hoenn, and what the two sinister groups known as Team Aqua and Team Magma are up to. Rated T for later chapters.
1. The Boy Awakens

**AN: Hullo world. I guess I don't have too much to say. First chapter in a hopefully very long fic. I'm writing this as I go along, but I can promise you I will definitely finish this. I don't own Pokemon ;) /AN**

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1. In Which the Boy Awakens and Promptly Has a Violent Encounter

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"Excuse me? Have you seen any Shroomish around? Hello?" Sounds. Words. The boy took his time processing those words, figuring out what they meant. Had he seen any Shroomish nearby? He didn't think so. He lightly sniffed the air. Humid. Woodsy. A wet forest, good place to find Shroomish. He still didn't remember seeing any though. A hand touched his shoulder lightly and his eyes snapped open in an instant, his own hand flying up to catch the other by the wrist. His eyes rapidly took in his situation even as his brain continued to drift into consciousness. The hand that had tapped him belonged to a very startled, and somewhat concerned, looking businessman. They were both in a forest; very deep in a very thick forest if the looks of the surrounding vegetation was any indicator.

"I-I'm sorry," the businessman stuttered, "I thought you might be injured or something; you weren't responding." The boy blinked a few times and frowned.

"Did it occur to you that I might be sleeping?" He hadn't been, or at least, he didn't think he'd been intentionally sleeping. What had he been doing? At his suggestion however, the businessman blinked owlishly.

"Sorry. That didn't occur to me, not that someone would be sleeping way out here. I'm very sorry for waking you young man." The young man in question shook his head and sat up, simultaneously releasing the businessman's wrist. He rubbed his hand against the back of his head, feeling small particles of dirt falling away as his hand brushed over his hair. A glance down at his clothes showed them to be in the same dirty state as his hair. What in the world had he done to get so dirty?

"Why were you looking for Shroomish in the first place?" He asked curiously, mainly to distract the businessman from his dishevelled appearance. His question seemed to catch the businessman off guard. The man blinked a few times before answering.

"Well, I just really like Shroomish, and I was hoping to catch one here in the forest. I've heard some of the city folk saying they can be found in the deeper parts of the forest, but I myself have never really wandered in here. Do you perhaps live in the city?" The boy thought about that. Did he live in the city? Why did he even have to think about that? Despite the fact that he knew he should know exactly where he came from, he couldn't seem to remember. That was... worrying. He settled for shrugging and making a sound that wasn't exactly a yes, but not actually a no either. He thought about how to keep the man from asking more questions. If he couldn't answer them for himself, he certainly didn't want the stranger asking the questions. He didn't like having questions asked of him, that was for sure. He came to a decision.

"This forest seems pretty big, and since I seem to have nothing to do right now, would you like me to help you look for some Shroomish?" The man blinked at the suggestion, and then his face broke out in a boyish grin.

"Would you? That would be amazing." They began searching through the bushes, startling the occasional Wurmple and Taillow. At one point, the boy thought he heard a faint pop, but when he spun around, all he saw was a flash of red disappearing into the canopy. After staring after the flash of movement, the boy went back to his search. It wasn't long after that the businessman called out and waved the boy over to the bush he was looking in. The boy walked over and crouched next to the man to get a better look at what he had spotted. It wasn't a Shroomish however. Lying underneath the bush as if it had been thrown there was a small backpack. It was covered in dirt and leaves and several dark stains.

"Does this bag belong to you?" The businessman asked curiously. The boy picked the bag up and examined it carefully. It was well worn, even under the dirt. Inside were two Pokeballs, one empty and one containing a Pokemon Darius couldn't make out, some food, two papers that looked like letters, and a rolled up blanket. There was also some kind of strange device that the boy couldn't identify. Someone had taken a marker and written the name 'Darius' on the inside, just under the zipper. Something twinged in the boy's head upon seeing the name. He assumed it had to be his own. He looked up to see the businessman looking at him curiously.

"Yeah, this is my bag." The boy said. "Not sure why it's so dirty though." The businessman nodded and glanced at the written name.

"So your name's Darius?" The boy supposed it was, so he nodded. The businessman smiled. "Well, thanks for helping me out Darius."

"The hell is up with this damn hold-up?" A voice snarled from behind the two. Both man and boy turned on their heels to see a man wearing some kind of blue get-up and glaring in their direction. "I was hoping to jump you when you came out of the woods, but you take forever and when I come to see what the hell is taking you so long, I find you playing in the dirt with some brat!" Darius, who could only assume he was the 'brat', cocked an eyebrow and looked at the businessman.

"Friend of yours?" He asked. The businessman glanced at him and then back at the newcomer.

"Definitely not." He replied. Louder, to the strange man, he asked "Can I help you with something?" The man grinned and drew a Pokeball from his belt. Darius immediately felt his body tense.

"Yeah, you can help me with something. Hand over those research papers you were delivering, and I won't hurt you." He tossed the Pokeball and a Poochyena appeared, standing by its master's leg and snarling at the two who were kneeling on the ground. Darius looked at the bristling Pokemon and then at their attacker.

"Not a very nice way of asking, is it?" A tiny part of his brain was telling him that this was a very bad situation and he should really be quiet, but a much larger part of his brain was telling him that this man was just an idiot. He wasn't sure which part of the man told him he was an idiot, but Darius knew it anyway. At his words the man's eyes narrowed.

"Are you defying me?" He asked quietly. Darius could feel the businessman edging behind him, but he simply shrugged. He was running purely on instinct, but the poor businessman didn't need to know that.

"Depends. Why should we be handing these papers over? They sound pretty important." The man's gloved fingers clenched into fists, and Darius could see his facial muscles twitching.

"Listen brat, I'm a member of Team Aqua, so if you don't shut up and hand over those papers, you're going to regret it." Darius couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at the man. Team Aqua? That explained the man's behaviour then. He believed that if he had the group behind him, he held power, but without the group...

"Then tell me mister Aqua man, are the rest of your teammates here as well?" Darius asked. He could feel the businessman shaking behind him, but he refused to back down. "Because if they aren't, I honestly don't know why you being a part of this group has any force behind it." The man's lip curled back in a snarl. Now he was angry.

"I warned you brat. Now you're going to pay for defying Team Aqua!" He looked down at his Pokemon. "Get them!" He commanded harshly. The Pokemon barked and leapt at Darius, teeth bared, mouth opening. A Bite attack then. Darius made a split decision and swung the backpack that still hung limply in his hand into the side of the Pokemon's head. The Poochyena flew away with a yelp. As soon as his bag made contact, Darius sprang to his feet and spun around, grabbed the businessman's arm, and took off in the opposite direction.

"Was that a good idea?" The man called to him, panic edging his voice. Darius glanced back and grinned at him.

"Probably not. Keep running." Behind them, Darius could hear the running paws of their attacker's Poochyena. As well as a second set of paws. Darius spun around again, yanking the businessman behind him once more to face their pursuer. Two Poochyenas stood before him. They faced each other, snarling. One of them, the slightly larger of the two, glanced at Darius curiously and in a heartbeat he came to a snap decision.

"Bite!" He called out. The Poochyena that had glanced at him snarled and leapt at the smaller Pokemon, fangs sinking into the fur. Their attacker's Poochyena let out a yelp and began struggling to get away from the crushing jaws locked around its leg. Their defender shook his head a few times before releasing the other Pokemon, which fled back the way they had come, limping on the damaged leg. Once it was out of sight, the Poochyena turned back and trotted up to Darius, looking up at him curiously. Darius bent down and allowed his hand to automatically scratch the top of the Pokemon's muzzle. Seeming satisfied with this, the Poochyena sat on the ground beside Darius's foot, tongue hanging out lazily. Darius then turned back to the businessman, who was leaning forward, hands pressed to his knees as he caught his breath.

"Thanks for that. I didn't realise you were a Pokemon Trainer." Darius didn't mention that he hadn't known that either.

"What was that man after anyway?" Darius asked curiously. The man gave a nervous laugh.

"Ha, I was actually passing through this forest on my way to deliver these important papers." He reached into his suit and drew out a yellow envelope. "It would have been horrible if that man had stolen them!" The man shuddered and tucked the papers back into his suit.

"Well, there's a chance that man is still in the forest waiting to jump you again, so why don't I come with you to the city?" The man looked up in surprise at Darius's offer.

"You'd do that?" He asked. Darius nodded. He needed to find his way out of the forest, and in truth, he really was concerned about the man being jumped again. The man that had attacked them had obviously been some kind of low-level lackey for this Team Aqua group, and for him to be that weak while having that much confidence, Team Aqua must have some kind of force behind them. Which meant that lackey might not have been the only one after the papers. Together they set off through the forest, the businessman leading the way, Darius scanning the area for signs of their attacker, and the Poochyena bringing up the rear.

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**AN: So yeah! That's the start anyway! Questions, comments, insults, anything would be appreciated. Even a fav or follow would make me happy. If you're following, that means you're waiting for chapters, and if you're waiting for chapters, that means you like it! And I like it when people like the things I make! That's why I'm always giving people cookies! Cyber-cookies for reviews/favs/follows! /AN**


	2. Darius Discovers his Purpose

**AN: Hullo again. So sorry, I'd planned to upload this yesterday, but the Internet connection's gone on the frizz for some reason, so I had to wait until I had some free time at school to get this up. **

**I posted the first chapter on Monday, and within the day, someone had already alerted this story. Tucker1901, you made my _week _right there :) So yeah. **

**I'm going to be uploading the 3rd chapter on Thursday, probably sometime in the afternoon. Opinions, thoughts, criticism, anything is greatly appreciated. /AN**

**_Edit: Sorry, just fixing some formatting stuff that Doc Manager ate. :P_  
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2. In Which Darius Discovers His Purpose and Promptly Gains a New One

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They had reached the city of Rustboro with no more hassle, and the businessman, who had given his name as Jackson, thanked Darius repeatedly and profusely. They had separated in front of the Devon Corporation Headquarters, which was where the man worked. Jackson went into the building to deliver the papers and Darius made his way to the local Pokecenter. He recalled the Poochyena into the empty Pokeball and handed the two balls to the nurse on duty. She nodded and smiled, giving Darius an address that led to a local business called the Trainer Inn, where Trainers could bunk for a night at little cost. After she finished healing his Pokemon, he made his way to the inn. The nurse had been right, if you had Pokemon with you, you could rent a bed for a single night for dirt cheap.

The first thing he did upon entering the room he'd been given was to release the two Pokemon from their Pokeballs. The Poochyena and a Ralts appeared on the bed, both watching him curiously. Darius then turned his attention to the mirror on the wall that reflected the dirty boy standing in the middle of the room.

Light blue eyes stared back at him from under a wild mess of darker blue hair. Absently he reached up and tugged at some of the stray blue hair, watching as the boy in the mirror did the same. His skin was a light tan, and he wore a black t-shirt paired with blue jeans and dark brown hiking boots. He sighed and wandered back to the bed, sitting between the two Pokemon that had been watching him nervously, crossing his legs as he did so.

"I suppose you two know who I am better than I do right now, huh?" He asked the Pokemon, looking to the both of them. The Poochyena whined quietly and the Ralts wrapped her little arms around his knee in a hug. He absentmindedly patted the top of her head before he reached over to where he had tossed his bag onto the bed. Opening it up, he pulled out the letters he had spotted earlier. Opening one up, Darius read it out loud to the two Pokemon.

"_Darius,_

"_How has your life in hiding been? I hope you are feeling more acquiescent than you were just a few months ago, because I have a job for you. One that you already have experience with. My superiors received a call a week ago from the Hoenn police requesting backup with a situation that is familiar to both you and I. These people are slippery. No matter how many lower members are caught, the higher ups are too nimble for the police. That's why you're being called in. Due to your past, you seem to be the best person to get this job done. As encouragement, you are hereby given police immunity, and you have permission to do whatever it takes to apprehend the leader or leaders of this organization. _

"_Until you complete this mission however, you are still on our wanted list. Keep your head down, because the police don't know that we're sending you there. The reason we're not telling them, I'm sure you've already figured out. _

"_No one is to know who you are, nor why you are there. Keep your identity secret at all costs. You may call me for backup only if the situation becomes so dire that your very life is in danger. Knowing you however, I doubt you will call me even in that situation. Let me tell you now that if you decide to reject this proposal, my superiors have commanded me to find you and arrest you. I do not wish to do this after all your help in apprehending your uncle, but those are the conditions. _

"_Here's hoping you make the smart decision, Special Agent Looker."_

Darius looked up at his two companions. They looked back at him. Darius looked back down at the letter and sighed. "Now I _really_ want to know who I am. At least I won't have trouble with the whole keeping my identity hidden part." The rest of the letter bothered him, but he put it aside in favour of reading the second letter. Unlike the first one, which had been typed and very formal, this one was done in a scrawling handwriting, and was worded much less formally.

"_Hey there little bro. _

"_I understand Agent Looker offered you a pardon. That's great! No reason you should get dragged into uncle Cy's shit anyway. Don't worry about me- I've got a ridiculously short sentence in comparison to Mars. Of course, I'm not the one who held a bunch of people hostage, nor did I blow up a national icon with a big-ass bomb, so relativity, right? Now, let me tell you something little bro. Looker and all the other officers don't think you can handle this mess by yourself, but they don't know you. And besides, you'll have Ayashii and Kuraishi by your side. When in Hoenn, keep an eye out for a man named Tyler. He's a TV cameraman, and also a good friend of mine. If there's any gossip to be had, he's got it. And by gossip, I mean information. If he tries to brush you off, just say to him 'Satty's gonna whoop you bad ahou' and he'll burst out laughing. He'll be more chatty than a journalist with ADD and a cup of coffee after that. Also, watch out for the police as well. They're the ones sending you on this mission, but that doesn't mean they're your friends or that they'll be any bit helpful. Can't believe I'm agreeing with the idiot, but do as Looker says and keep low._

"_Your brother, Saturn._

"_PS – Watch your back, 'cause Jupiter's still loose, and she's pissed at you for helping the police to arrest uncle Cy. It won't take long for her to track you to Hoenn, so I suggest you watch yourself. She will stop at nothing to get revenge on you, and that includes breaking the law. She's probably pissed enough to attempt killing you, so watch yourself, yeah?"_

Darius stared at the second letter. Finally he flopped back onto the bed and heaved a sigh. He glanced at the two Pokemon that sat by his legs, both watching him with worried eyes. "So you guys are Kuraishi," the Poochyena yipped, "and Ayashii?" The Ralts nodded, watching him with a small smile. "And I'm Darius, brother of Saturn who is in jail for something that isn't holding people hostage, nor blowing things up with big-ass bombs, and nephew of someone called 'Cy' who seems to be a pretty up-and-big criminal. I got that right so far?" He asked the Pokemon. They both nodded slowly. "I'm guessing the police are offering me a pardon because I did something to help them arrest said uncle, but because he was my uncle, they're suspicious of me, and one of my uncle's followers is pissed that I turned him in and now wants to kill me. That's fun." Kuraishi whined lightly and Darius reached down to scratch behind his ears. Darius thought about the mission he'd been given in the first letter. Something clicked in his mind and he sat up quickly. "Lower members." He said, jumping up off the bed and hurrying to the door. "That idiot that attacked us in the forest, he was saying he was a member of Team Aqua. Team Aqua _must_ be the group I was sent to investigate." And that Team Aqua member had attacked Jackson for the research papers he was delivering to the Devon Corporation.

"Guess I know where to go next." He said, heading out the door, Ayashii and Kuraishi quickly following after.

Darius returned to the Devon Corporation where he'd split up with Jackson. He sighed and opened the large glass double doors into the front lobby. It was a very nice lobby. He might have spent more time admiring the random paintings and statues that decorated the room if he hadn't spotted the frazzled looking security guard slouching in the chair and the red-faced secretary behind the desk. He walked up to the desk behind which the secretary sat and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Did something happen here?" He asked curiously. The security guard eyed him suspiciously before huffing loudly.

"Some crazy bastard got into the building and made off with some really important something just now." Darius raised his eyebrows. A something? Not the research papers, but an object?

"What was stolen?" He asked.

"We don't know." The secretary said, frowning. "It was something the boss was commissioned to do personally, none of us even knew what he was making. All I know is that the order came in from Slateport."

"And the boss was the only one who was working on it?" What was the connection between the boss's project and Jackson's papers?

"Why you asking so many questions kid?" The guard asked, suddenly sitting up and looking far more alert than he had just a few seconds ago.

"Ah, no, I was just curious, since you two looked bothered." The security guard's gaze did not let up and his hand slowly began making its way towards the radio on his belt. Darius felt himself tensing. He remembered the letters that he'd left on the bed. _Lie low, watch out for the police. _ However, Darius knew that anything he said at that point would simply arouse the guard's suspicion further. Just then, a familiar voice came from behind the secretary's desk.

"Darius? What are you doing here?" Darius looked over to see Jackson walking through a doorway, in just as frazzled a state as the secretary and the security guard. The guard looked at Jackson and then back to Darius.

"You know this kid sir?" He asked. Jackson nodded vigorously.

"Of course! Darius here is the one that saved me from the thief in the forest! I was just telling you guys about him wasn't I?"

"Really?" The security guard's hand left his radio and he leaned back into his chair.

"_This_ is your savior?" The secretary asked in surprise. "I'd imagined he'd be a bit older what with how you were going on about how he handled that criminal."

"I _did_ say he was a kid." Jackson huffed. Darius cleared his throat to get Jackson's attention back.

"The person that broke in here and stole this top-secret, whatever it was; was it the same dude as the one in the forest?" Darius asked. Jackson frowned.

"I don't know. He was dressed the same, but he looked kinda different about the face." Darius nodded. He turned to walk out the door when Jackson yelped and caught Darius's arm. "Are you thinking of going after him?" Jackson asked incredulously. Darius nodded.

"Of course. This top-secret thing is really important, isn't it? So, you need to get it back as soon as possible. It'll take a while before the police can get mobilized anyway, and by that time our thief may have gotten away." Darius refrained from mentioning that he had any kind of personal interest in going after the man. Jackson nodded.

"In that case, I'll come with you! We can find this thief together!" Darius nodded and set out again, Jackson following after. As he left, he could hear the secretary making a call, probably to the boss to tell him that someone was looking for the something. Or maybe not.

It didn't take long to find the man. Or rather, where the man had gone. After asking several locals if they'd seen someone matching the man's description go by and following his trail, Darius and Jackson found themselves on the northern outskirts of town.

"I don't know where he thinks he's going to escape to, the tunnel to Veranturf Town isn't even complete yet, this road is a dead end." Jackson was saying. Darius shrugged.

"I saw a sign on the way up here that said 'time-saving Rusturf tunnel up ahead'. He must have seen that and thought it would make the perfect getaway."

"Maybe." They continued following the man's path until they came upon the mouth of the tunnel. There was a tunnel worker there, trying to talk to an elderly man who was howling loudly. Darius and Jackson approached the two quickly.

"What happened?" Darius asked the tunnel worker, who seemed more willing to talk than the old man.

"Ah, Mr. Briney here was strolling around with his Pokemon and-" The old man howled, interrupting the worker's words.

"That damn little punk! How dare he run off with my precious Peeko! Let me at him I say!" He lunged for the tunnel entrance, but the tunnel worker caught him by the waist.

"Civilians are not allowed in the tunnel sir!" He grunted, struggling to keep the surprisingly spry old man close. Darius looked at Jackson and grinned.

"Mr. Briney, my friend Jackson here is going to stick here with you while I go get Peeko back, okay?" Darius dashed away and into the tunnel even as Jackson was protesting being left behind and the tunnel worker was repeatedly shouting that no civilians applied to children as well. As soon as he entered the tunnel their voices seemed to fade away however, and Darius quickly went in search for the thief.

He released Kuraishi and Ayashii, feeling more comfortable with them outside of their Pokeballs. Slowly, he walked into the dark tunnel. Faint grey shadows were all he could see, and a faint mist that eddied around his legs. The air was damp and surprisingly chilly compared to the warm summer weather that he had left outside. Luckily for Darius, the tunnel was a straight shot and he didn't have to worry about going the wrong way. It wasn't long before he came upon the Team Aqua member, whose back was turned as the man glared at the unfinished tunnel that blocked his escape. Just as Jackson had said, he was wearing the same blue bandana, black and white t-shirt, and strange patterned blue cargo pants as the man from the forest. Next to the man was a small bird-like Pokemon that was tied up and looking thoroughly miserable. Darius approached the man calmly, and when he was about 5 feet away, he stopped and cleared his throat. The man ceased his helpful litany of swears at the wall to spin around and begin swearing at Darius. The boy couldn't help but cock a grin at the man. It was too dark to make out faces, but his voice was different from the man in the forest. So they really were part of some group with a uniform. Darius waited patiently for the man to finish swearing. Finally the man paused.

"Who the hell are you brat?" The man demanded. Darius sighed.

"Apparently I'm just the brat." Darius saw the man reach for his belt, most likely going for a pokeball. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said quickly, at the same time motioning to his two companions. Kuraishi nodded and swiftly ran over to the man, nipping at the man's pants before quickly dashing away again. The man swore and tried to kick out, but Kuraishi had already disappeared into the fog. Darius saw the Pokemon's eyes glinting behind the man, waiting for a second signal to attack. Ayashii quietly slipped into the fog, vanishing from sight.

"The hell do you want brat?" The man snarled. Darius could see his head swivelling around as he searched for the Pokemon that attacked him.

"All I want is for you to give me whatever you stole and release the Pokemon you kidnapped."

"Oh yeah? And what does a brat like you want with these goods anyway?" The man demanded, his hand again reaching for his belt. Kuraishi lunged forward and nipped at his pants again. The man yelped and again tried to kick out, but again Kuraishi was already gone.

"What I want with those goods is simply to take them from you. After that, I'll simply do what you'd have done." Darius said matter-of-factly, allowing a slight grin to dance across his face. He saw the man's head shoot up in surprise.

"You'd give the goods to the boss?" the man asked in surprise. Darius allowed his grin to grow wider.

"Of course. What else would I do with them?" Slowly the man reached down, into a bag that lay by his foot this time, and he drew out what Darius knew had to be the stolen goods. With a snap of his fingers, Kuraishi jumped up and caught the goods in his mouth, running them to Darius who accepted them silently.

"Hey, just remember to tell Boss Archie that I was the one that got them in the first place, yeah?" Now Darius laughed.

"You seem to misunderstand me." He informed the man. "When I said I was going to give this to the boss, I meant the boss of the Devon Corporation." He heard the man gasp in a way that was almost comical.

"You little brat! You lied to me!" Darius scoffed at the man, holding back his laughter.

"And in what way did I lie to you? When I said I'd do what you would do with the goods, I meant I'd give them to the person who told me to get them in the first place. In your case, that was your superior. In my case, it was the people of the Devon Corporation. That was no lie." The man swore again.

"You give those back or my little hostage won't see the light of day again!" The man reached down to grab the hostage Pokemon, only for his hand to close on air. With a small 'pop', Ayashii appeared back by Darius's side, the hostage Wingull in tow. Upon seeing his hostage's new location, the man swore again.

"And now that I have your hostage and the goods, I shall be leaving. Take your time though, the police will be waiting for you when you try to leave." And with that, Darius quickly reached down, scooped up Peeko and walked away.

The police were indeed outside the tunnel when Darius exited. Inside he was cursing himself for taking so long, but outside he simply nodded to the officers and quickly slipped through their ranks to find Jackson. It wasn't hard. The man was sitting with Mr. Briney and the tunnel worker from before, as well as an officer who seemed to be trying to question them. The elderly man was still howling up a storm, but he seemed to have given up trying to get into the tunnel. Upon seeing Darius's approach, Jackson jumped up and ran over to the boy.

"Darius! Did you get the goods back?" He pleaded. Darius nodded and smiled, handing the strange device to Jackson. Darius then walked over to Mr. Briney and laid Peeko in the man's lap. The man's vivid description of what he planned to do to the kidnapper quickly ended as he looked down at his Pokemon. With another howl he quickly began untying the rope that bound his friend.

"Peeko!" Mr. Briney cried out, hugging the Wingull close to him. The Pokemon chirruped happily, and Mr. Briney smiled at Darius. "Thank you so much for saving her lad." Darius nodded, but he didn't get a chance to respond as there was a loud commotion behind him. Darius spun around to see several police scrambling up the cliff, chasing after a figure dressed in blue who was doing his best to flee as quickly as possible. Darius made to go after the man as well, but the closest officer snagged his arm.

"It's alright young man, you can leave the rest of this to us cops, okay?" Darius nodded quietly, drawing away from the man and ducking his head down as the rest of the officers ran by. After most of the officers were gone, Darius made to slip away. If he hung around, he'd probably have to answer some questions from the police, and the words 'still on our wanted list' kept dancing across his vision. Before he could slip away however, a hand firmly caught him by the wrist and pulled him about. Darius yelped in surprise but blinked when he found himself face to face with Jackson.

"Where are you going?" Jackson asked curiously. Darius opened his mouth to respond, but Jackson took the boy's wrist in his hand and began dragging him back to the city.

"Oi! Lad!" Mr. Briney called out. Darius turned his head to acknowledge the man. "If you're ever down by Petalburg, stop by my sea-shack and say hello, will ya?" Darius nodded and grinned before following after Jackson.

Darius sat quietly, looking around the impressive office. Jackson had bodily dragged the boy through Rustboro city and back to the Devon Corporation Headquarters. After giving a brief explanation to the secretary and the security guard, who'd been joined by several police officers with notebooks, Jackson dragged him up several flights of stairs into what Darius could only assume was the boss's office. Darius sat in a large, sofa room, that stood between the boss's main office and the rest of the stairs. For some reason, the stiff, formal room was giving Darius the shivers. He'd released Kuraishi and Ayashii from their Pokeballs once again, and they both occupied his lap. They too seemed nervous in the formal room. Why he had to meet with the head of the Devon Corporation, Darius didn't have a clue. He had tried to get away, but Jackson would have none of it. The door to the boss's inner office opened and Jackson peeked out.

"Darius, the boss wants to see you." Darius sighed and nudged his companions off his lap before standing and following Jackson inside the office. Unlike the outer room, the man's inner office was a mess. Rocks with little sticky notes cluttered the shelves, papers covered every table available and random gizmos occupied the two chairs that sat facing the large mahogany desk. The man behind the desk had greying hair, but his deep blue eyes twinkled with a boyish merriment and his smile was warm and welcoming.

"Take a seat young man." The boss said. Darius glanced at the chairs and the man laughed.

"Just throw those doodads on a table, there's a good lad, now you can take a seat." Darius did as he was told and Jackson did the same with the other chair. The old man smiled again, and then he began scooting his chair around his desk so he was sitting in front of it instead of behind it. He leaned forward and smiled at Darius.

"So, you're the young man who saved the day. I must give you my greatest thanks for not only protecting those important papers from being stolen, but then promptly giving chase when this component was stolen." He waved vaguely at a table where the object Darius had retrieved lay atop a messy pile of papers. Darius looked back to the old man in time to see the smile fall away and the laughter fade out of his eyes.

"I suppose you're going to want some kind of repayment for all you've done then, hmm?" Darius thought about that. Repayment?

"Well sir, now that you mention it, I would like one thing." The old man's eyes narrowed, but he did not speak, so Darius continued. "By the looks of things, this is going to lead into a police investigation, and there's the chance the media might jump on it. I'm just asking that you refrain from mentioning me if they ask." The old man stared at Darius for a minute before leaning back in his chair and bursting into laughter. Out of the corner of his eye, Darius saw Jackson jump in surprise, but his attention was on the chuckling man in front of him.

"What a lad you are." The man said, wiping tears away from his eyes. "You're sitting in the office of Edward Stone, one of the richest and most influential men in the region of Hoenn, I'm offering you anything you want, and all you ask for is animosity." He laughed again. "I like you kid." Darius couldn't help but grin himself.

"When you put it that way, perhaps I could ask to know exactly what I just stole back?" Mr. Stone looked like he was about to laugh once more before he got a thoughtful look on his face and he suddenly stood up and strode over to the table that the mysterious component rested on. He picked it up and carried it back to Darius, dropping it in the boy's lap.

"How about this. I'll make one more request of you. Please escort that component to Slateport safely and keep it from getting stolen again. In return, I'll send a message to my friend Captain Stern and when you deliver the component to him, he'll explain what it does far better than I'd be able to. How does that sound?" Darius looked at the device and nodded. He looked back up at the president of the company.

"In return, can I make one more request myself?" Mr. Stone cocked an eyebrow, but nodded anyway. Darius paused before continuing with his request. "If you hear anything else about those thugs, Team Aqua, could you please quietly pass me the info?" Darius averted his eyes as he made his request. He knew it was risky to make such a request, but he also knew that trying to track the movements of the group all on his own would be difficult. Mr. Stone seemed to think about his request for a bit before reaching around to another table and plucking a small, rounded, yellow device off the mess of papers and dropping it in Darius's lap along with the mysterious component.

"This is a PokeNav. It's one of Devon Corporation's latest inventions. This version hasn't even hit the shelves yet. Not only does it replicate the Pokegear that is very popular in the Johto region, it also has an advanced map function, as well as several add-ons that can appeal to Pokemon Trainers." Darius raised an eyebrow and Mr. Stone laughed again. "It's a mobile phone my boy! Either I'll call you or I'll have young Jackson here call you if anything to do with these rude young fellows comes up again." Darius blinked a few times before nodding happily.

"That will be very helpful Mr. Stone." He said. Mr. Stone laughed.

"Call me Ed my boy! Only those boorish executives and such call me Mr. Stone. Everyone else just calls me Ed. You are by no means a boorish character." Darius smiled as Ed laughed heartily. Even Jackson started laughing.

* * *

**AN: Like I said, reviews, follows, favs, whatever you can offer! And next chappy will be up Thursday! I promise!**


	3. Darius and May Collide

**AN: Hullo friendly readers! Told you I'd have the chappy today! I'm probably going to update every Thursday, since I have a 3 hour gap between my classes, and I can use the college Internet to upload stuff. Not much to say I guess; I'm sorry if it seems a tad slow, but thank you so much for reading this. It really means a lot to me. I love you guys and girls. **

**PS- sorry about the formatting in the last chapters, I didn't realize the doc manager was messing with my page breaks. I'll fix them when I get the chance. **

**Forgot to tell you guys this last chapter; I mention Sinnoh, but this story is strictly in Hoenn. Sinnoh's done and past in my story. Some Sinnoh people may pop in for a cameo later if they feel like it, but I'm just the writer, I never know what my characters are doing! **

**One more thing, and I'll stop pestering you wonderful, wonderful people. My spelling may look a bit funny to some of you. I'm 100% American, but I spell with U.K. English. Colour/Color, Encyclopaedia/Encyclopedia, ecetera ecetera. Please don't mind it. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out; it's not that different :) /AN**

* * *

3. In Which Darius and May Collide and Darius Gets a Lift

* * *

Darius looked around the town of Petalburg. It was reasonably sized, though not nearly as big as Rustboro. After he'd parted with Ed and Jackson, he'd headed to the inn to retrieve his stuff. After closely looking at the map, Darius decided that he had enough time left in the day to get through the Petalburg woods. What he hadn't counted on was the fact that there was no Trainer Inn or hotel of any kind in Petalburg. The sun was setting quickly and Darius knew he didn't have enough time to search for a new town. Darius was on his way to the Pokecenter to ask the local nurse if there was anywhere he would be able to stay for the night when the girl crashed into him. Darius had only a second's warning as he spotted movement in the corner of his eye before they collided. The two went down in a heap, the girl landing atop Darius and Darius yelping as he hit the ground. He lay stunned for a minute before the girl's voice brought him back to the real world. She was yelling at someone.

"That wasn't fair- I wasn't ready!" She howled from her perch atop the hapless boy. A shadow crossed Darius's vision and an annoyed voice answered the girl's protest.

"You weren't ready the last 3 times either. And you won't be ready until you get stronger. So go out, fight as many trainers as you can, and when you think you're ready to try and take me on again, come back. Now, why don't you get off that young man you're sitting on." Darius felt the girl's weight shift off his back and heard her gasp in surprise.

"I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you!" She half-shouted. She quickly rolled to her feet and reached down to pull Darius up after her. He staggered a bit, trying to regain his balance before nodding to the girl.

"I'm fine, thanks." The girl nodded and spun around to the man that had been talking to her who was currently in the process of walking away.

"Oi!" She called, cupping her hands around her mouth to project her voice. "I'm not done yet! Get back here and battle me one more time!" The man paused and Darius saw the girl grin ferociously. He turned around and looked at Darius. Then he smiled.

"Young man, I see you have some Pokeballs on your belt. Would you like to help us with something?" He asked, walking back to the two teenagers. Darius shrugged. "All I ask is that you have a simple battle with this girl. Are you okay with that?" The girl looked like she was about to protest, but the man held up his hand, looking back at her. "I'll make you a deal May. You beat that young man in a battle, and I'll accept another challenge from you. If he wins however, you've still got a ways to go. Sound good?" The girl hesitated, and then nodded vigorously again. The man smiled. "Is that alright with you young man?" He asked. Darius hesitated as well, thinking. He'd already been signed up for this, hadn't he? It didn't sound like he had all that much say in the matter. And if they were locals, then after the battle they might tell him where he could stay for the night. Finally, he nodded. "Then, we'll use the battle room so we don't wake the neighbours." The man said.

* * *

The battle room, as it turned out, was inside the local Pokemon Gym. Darius had seen the building on the map earlier, but he hadn't thought to visit it. On one side of the indoor field, Darius stood with Ayashii and Kuraishi, and on the other side the girl, whose name seemed to be May, stood with a Taillow and a Mudkip. The man, whom Darius could only guess was the local gym leader, quietly walked up to Darius.

"Don't hold back." The man said lowly. Darius cocked an eyebrow at him and the man smiled. "I'm very good at reading people, and I can see that you have a kindness about you, but I can also see in your eyes that you can be a fierce battler." With that, the man walked into the middle of the field. In a louder voice so both children could hear him, the man spoke. "This shall be a two-on-two single style battle. Are the battlers ready?" Darius nodded, and across the field, May stabbed her fist into the air, the feral grin from before covering her face. Darius looked down at Ayashii and Kuraishi.

"You guys ready?" He asked. Both Pokemon nodded. "Okay, Ayashii, you'll go first, 'kay? The little psychic Pokemon nodded her head and stepped onto the field. May had sent forth her Talliow. The gym leader backed off the field, one hand raised. As soon as he stepped off the field, he brought his hand down, and immediately, May was shouting "Taillow, fly where its attacks won't reach you!" The bird Pokemon chirped and began flapping it's wings, lifting itself high into the sky. Darius watched the movements with a critical eye. The Taillow was fast, probably too fast for any of Ayashii's more direct attacks to hit. Getting an idea in his head, Darius called out to Ayashii. The Ralts glanced back and nodded, showing she'd understood what Darius's plan. May waited for a second before huffing. "If you won't attack then I will! Taillow!" The Taillow chirped loudly and swooped down towards the ground, pulling up abruptly and skimming the ground at very high speeds, headed directly for Ayashii. A Quick Attack, Darius noted, quickly adjusting his plan to match May's movements. "Ayashii, now!" The psychic-type nodded and shifted to the right slightly, raising her arms and letting off a faint purple aura.

"We'll be gone before your attack can hit!" May boasted. "Taillow, pull up!" Taillow chirped again, but instead of pulling up, the bird tried to go left, away from Ayashii. His wing clipped the ground and collapsed, forcing the bird to careen to a stop, collapsing on the ground.

"Taillow is unable to battle." The gym leader said calmly after it became clear that the bird was out for the count. May looked dumbfounded.

"How the _hell_?"

"Confusion." Darius said simply. He motioned to Kuraishi and the Poochyena bounded onto the field to meet May's Mudkip, Ayashii returning to Darius's side. May grinned as the two Pokemon faced off.

"I'll warn you now." She said. "Mudkip is my strongest Pokemon." Darius nodded. Kuraishi glanced back at Darius and the boy offered a soft smile. Fight hard, but be gentle. He'd seen the damage Kuraishi's jaws inflicted on the Team Aqua member's Poochyena. Kuraishi nodded and faced May's Mudkip just as the water-type launched forward in a Tackle. Kuraishi only had time to shift slightly to the left before he took the hit. He quickly hit with his own Tackle as Mudkip was passing, knocking the water-type to the ground. Mudkip quickly rolled to his feet and ran at Kuraishi again as the dark-type howled loudly, glaring at the incoming Pokemon. Again Kuraishi barely shifted before he took Mudkip's Tackle, and again counter-attacked with his own Tackle immediately after. This Tackle however sent Mudkip flying. May's Pokemon landed hard and after a pause the gym leader raised his hand.

"Mudkip is unable to battle. May is out of useable Pokemon." He paused once again, and then shrugged. "This young man wins."

"Darius." The boy supplied. The man nodded.

"Darius is the winner." He said. Then he took a step towards May. The girl had recalled her Pokemon into their Pokeballs, and she glanced at the man as he approached her. She looked at Darius and nodded shortly before turning on her heel and striding out of the gym. Darius and the gym leader watched her go but neither said a word. The gym leader then glanced back at Darius and laughed heartily. Darius raised an eyebrow.

"I had been able to tell you had some kind of power behind you, but I sure wasn't expecting that. To be honest, behind me, May's the strongest Trainer in the area. Runs in the blood I guess." The man shrugged.

"So, you're May's father?" Darius asked curiously. The man nodded.

"My name's Norman. It's good to see such a strong trainer at such a young age." Darius shrugged.

"Not really. I could see that if either of these two took any of those attacks directly they'd be down in an instant. May certainly has some impressive power behind her." Norman shrugged and motioned for Darius to follow him out of the gym.

"Brute strength is all well and good, but hitting with all your might doesn't help if your opponent can out-strategize you in a second. She's still learning that bit. Anyway, thanks for your help in settling that little spat." Darius shrugged.

"Sure thing. I was wondering though if you could tell me where I might be able to stay for the night?" Norman eyed Darius and then nodded.

"There's not many public places you can stay, but you can use the guest room here in the gym if you want." Darius blinked and then felt his face break out in a grin.

"That would be wonderful, thank you Mr. Norman."

* * *

It was early morning when Darius awoke. He wasn't entirely sure what woke him, but a muted thud gave him a good idea. He quickly got out of bed, woke Kuraishi and Ayashii (both of whom had been sharing the bed with their trainer), and set out to find the source of the noise. He found it in the main gym battling room. May stood away from the battlefield, and she was commanding Mudkip and Taillow, who were practice-fighting together. May had a deep frown on her face and Darius approached her slowly. She only glanced at him when her Pokemon paused in their mock battle to acknowledge Kuraishi and Ayashii.

"You're a hell of a lot stronger than you look kid." May said lowly, not looking at Darius. The boy cracked a smile.

"Not strength, just strategy. I told your father the same thing. If any of your attacks had hit, the battle would have ended far differently." May scoffed.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded. "Mudkip landed several hits on your Poochyena in the second battle." Darius shook his head.

"Not quite; give me a chance to explain." He nodded towards Kuraishi and the Poochyena bounded over to Mudkip. "Just before Mudkip's attacks hit, did you notice how Kuraishi shifted his weight to the side?" The Poochyena yipped at Mudkip and the water-type nodded. They both returned to the positions they'd occupied during the battle and began going through the motions of the battle slowly. What had happened in the span of a few seconds was now laid out at a speed that was much easier to follow and analyse. Noting that May was sharply watching the Pokemon, Darius continued his explanation. "By shifting his weight like that, Kuraishi was able to deflect most of the force behind Mudkip's attack. The shift also caused Mudkip to fall off-balance for just a second, which Kuraishi used to make his own attack more effective." May nodded, and Darius saw comprehension fall across her face. Then she frowned again.

"I can't believe you came up with that so quickly. But what about the first battle? What did you do there?" Darius nodded and glanced at Ayashii. Taillow too caught his meaning and both Pokemon took the field.

"Right from the start, as soon as Taillow took off, I knew he was too fast for any of Ayashii's attacks to hit."

"But that Confusion attack hit." May growled. Darius shook his head.

"Not exactly." He raised his voice to call to Ayashii. "Ayashii, can you use that move again, but distort it so it's visible?" Ayashii nodded and surrounded herself with the purple glow again. Darius began explaining. "What I had Ayashii do was set up a field." The space around Ayashii began to twist in ways that space wasn't supposed to do. "Ayashii created the field around herself, so when Taillow came in for that Quick Attack, he flew right into the attack. As soon as he entered the field, he became confused. See, even looking at it gives you a headache, right?" May nodded. Darius could see she was resisting a smile that tugged at the edges of her mouth. Out of the corner of his eye Darius spotted Norman standing in the doorway, smiling at the children. Darius turned to face May.

"I see that you were training earlier, and that's good for raising your strength, but unfortunately that doesn't help much with strategy. You have to practice with other people to get yourself into situations where you really gotta think. Why don't you train with Ayashii and Kuraishi for a bit?" May looked like she was about to protest, but then she seemed to think about the suggestion, and she nodded. Darius felt himself smiling.

"You two good with that?" He asked his companions. They both nodded, grinning. "I'm going to go clean up the guest room, Ayashii and Kuraishi will help you practice." May raised an eyebrow.

"You're not going to oversee their movements?" Darius shrugged.

"I know they're capable. I trust them to be able to fight without me." May nodded, looking thoughtful again. Assured that his little lessons were not in vain, Darius walked over to the doorway to find Norman still in the hallway. The man walked beside him as he returned to the guest room.

"She needed someone to open her eyes like that." The man said. Darius shrugged and he heard Norman chuckle. "What brought you to Petalburg anyway? Planning to challenge the gym?" Now Darius laughed.

"No, nothing as ambitious as that. I'm running a delivery to Slateport from Rustboro and I thought I'd stop here on the way while I figure out how I'm supposed to get across. North of Rustboro is cliffs that only allow you to go south, the Rusturf tunnel still isn't done, according to the PokeNav I can't go through Oldale Town because of the river and the only way I've found is to sail to Dewford and then from there go to Slateport. But I don't have a boat." Norman frowned.

"Quite a mission you've got there." He said. "What exactly are you delivering? I'd think whoever sent you on this task would have recognised that problem. Unless they're an idiot." Darius laughed.

"I doubt Ed's an idiot. I believe he simply assumed I'd have a Pokemon that can Surf or something. As for what I'm delivering, I'm not quite sure. It needs to go to Captain Stern though." Norman raised an eyebrow.

"A delivery to Captain Stern? That man is a well respected scientist, a genius in his own right. And you don't know what you're delivering?" Darius shook his head. Norman sighed. "Well, I'll bring you to a friend of mine that lives nearby. He's a bit kooky, but he's an old sea-dog through and through, and he's got a ship. I'm sure if I ask him he'll give you a ride." Darius nodded.

"Thank you very much Norman."

* * *

Norman led Darius back towards the forest, but instead of going north, he went south, and Darius stared as they came in sight of the ocean. It was huge. Darius could also taste the salt in the air. Norman shivered and Darius couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Norman grinned.

"Round this area, this is what we call cold weather. I guess where you come from this must be normal though." Darius simply shrugged. Honestly he didn't have a clue, but it was obvious that Norman was cold despite the long-sleeve shirt he was wearing. On the other hand, Darius was wearing his black T-shirt and blue jeans, and he felt fine. Perhaps he came from some northern country? One of the letters had mentioned going to Hoenn, which implied he wasn't there originally.

"Look, here we are." Norman interrupted Darius thought train and the boy quickly took in their location. They were standing in front of a small house that sat on a dock that poked out into the ocean. Norman strode up to the door and began knocking. "As I said before, he's a tad eccentric, but he's easy to get along with. Just don't make him mad." Darius was about to ask what would anger the person they were visiting when he heard flapping wings. A Wingull sped at the two males, cawing in what Darius could only think of as a happy voice. The bird began flapping around his head and Norman grinned.

"Now that's a good omen, if she likes you, he'll like you for sure." Darius watched the bird flapping around before realization dawned on him. He stuck out an arm and the bird quickly took the perch. He brought her close and she chirped happily again.

"Hello Peeko." He greeted. Peeko cawed loudly in Darius's ear and took off for the dock, where old Mr. Briney was bounding up, waving madly.

"Darius! My boy! I was hoping you'd come by soon! Wasn't expecting you so soon though! I thought that young man that dragged you off was going to try and hire you as a security guard or something! You'd do good at that job!" The man stopped directly in front of Darius and began pumping his arm up and down. Darius heard Norman chuckle.

"Seems there wasn't anything to worry about then." He commented. Mr. Briney glanced at him and then at Darius again, blinking rapidly in surprise.

"Norman, you knew Darius?" Norman shook his head.

"I just met him last night. He helped me straighten out that whole mess I've been having with May." Mr. Briney laughed heartily.

"Of course he'd straighten that girl out! This kid is a crime-fighting, criminal-whooping, super-hero!" Darius felt heat rise in his cheeks at Mr. Briney's description of himself and he saw Norman crack a smile.

"Is he now? I'd like to hear that story sometime." Mr. Briney nodded and then pointed a finger in the air.

"By the way Norman, to what do I owe this visit today?"

"Darius here says he was asked to deliver a package to Captain Stern. Think you could give him a ride to Slateport in your ship?" Mr. Briney laughed.

"That's all you need?" the old man barked. "Of course I can do that! You saved Peeko from that terrible criminal afterall!"

"Did you hear if he was caught?" Darius asked suddenly. "I didn't remember to check with the police afterwards."

"Nah, slippery little git got away." Mr. Briney scowled. "If that tunnel-man hadn't held me back, that man would never have got away, let me tell you!" Darius laughed.

"I remember your description of exactly what you were going to do to him. I'm sure he'd have been happy once he was in jail because he'd be out of your reach." Mr. Briney laughed heartily. Norman smiled as well.

"If you two head out now, you'll be able to spend some time in Dewford, but I doubt that you'll be able to make it to Slateport today." Mr. Briney nodded at Norman's words.

"You don't mind that, do you Darius?" The sailor asked. Darius shook his head.

"I don't mind either!" A female voice called from behind the three. Darius turned to see May approaching with Mudkip and Taillow at her side, a backpack slung over her shoulder. A large grin was spread across her face. "I'm coming with you." She informed Darius once she had joined up with the group. "I want you to teach me how to be a better battler." Darius couldn't help but smile.

"Okay I guess. I'm just going to Slateport." May shrugged.

"There's a big cave in Dewford, we can practice there. There's the Dewford Gym too, so I'd like to challenge it while we're there. And there's always trainers itching for a fight on the Slateport beach." Darius hesitated, and then nodded.

"Okay then." He turned to look at Mr. Briney and Norman.

"There's plenty enough space on my boat lad!" Mr. Briney chuckled. Norman shrugged calmly.

"May's a strong young woman, and I think that travelling with you will be good for her." Norman leaned closer to Darius and lowered his voice so only the boy could hear him. "And I think you'd be good at keeping her out of trouble." Darius cracked a smile.

"Sorry sir but going by my current track record I'd probably get her into even more trouble than she would on her own." Norman raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing. A strong hand wrapped itself around Darius's arm and he yelped as he found himself being dragged towards the dock by May.

"I don't know what you two are whispering about, but I feel I should interrupt it. Now let's get going."

"Yes ma'am." Darius joked, earning himself a glare from the girl.

* * *

**AN: Forgot to say I don't own Pokemon. :P**


	4. May Battles a Gym Leader

**AN: Hullo~ I just learned we have a major test next Tuesday! But I'm not worried~ Maybe it's because I'm in a criminally good mood today! Blame the COFFEE! Haa, I do love me a cuppa Joe! Do my wonderful readers know how that nickname came to be? Cuppa Joe? (cue coffee-fuelled rant- don't read if you don't care)- I heard this on the radio! I don't remember which one, but during one of the wars, there were British soldiers and Americans, and the British had their 'cuppa', which refers to a 'cup a' tea'. And then, the Americans were called G.I. Joes' or something, so a 'cuppa' coffee, became a 'cuppa Joe' because coffee was like the American's tea. Or something like that. I heard that on NPR! /coffee-fuelled-coffee-rant. **

**I forgot to say it, like, the last couple of chapters, so I don't own Pokemon. But I do own Darius. He's mine, you can't have him! XD **

**/AN**

* * *

4. In Which May Battles a Gym Leader and Darius is Watched Suspiciously

* * *

It was late afternoon when they arrived on the island. As May had said, there was indeed a large cave on the northern part of the island. What May had forgotten to mention was that it was very, very dark, and it was a natural labyrinth that you could easily get turned around in.

"We're lost." May said dejectedly. Darius sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but the girl was right. They were hopelessly lost. His PokeNav had told him they'd been in the cave for a solid 3 hours, but unfortunately the map function didn't help while inside the cave. "It's my fault." The girl continued quietly. Had they been outside Darius wouldn't have heard her, but as it was, her voice echoed loudly.

"It's fine." Darius assured her. "All we have to do is stick to the left wall and keep walking. As long as we do that we'll end up doubling back on ourselves and we'll find an exit." Darius could see the outline of May's head bob up and down, but she didn't reply. The pair continued walking in silence until May froze abruptly. She held up her hand and Darius froze as well. Together they listened, and slowly Darius identified the sounds of footsteps. Shoes. Another person in the cave. People, he corrected quickly as he identified a second pair of footsteps. Both strides were long and confident. Either they knew the way through the cave or they had a light source with them. Darius quickly found out it was a combination thereof.

A huge steel-type Pokemon came hovering into view. The body looked like a cross between a UFO and an inflated frying pan. Four sturdy legs were bent so they curled above the Pokemon's main body. Its two small red eyes focused on the two children. The large X that was releasing a soft purple light like a flashlight directed towards them before the light expanded to fill the whole cave, brightening until even the space behind the Pokemon was lit up. May gasped as her eyes landed on the Pokemon before her.

"Is that a Metagross?" She asked loudly.

"Indeed it is." A smooth voice answered her from behind the Pokemon. Two men stepped out from behind the Pokemon. One was wearing a casual black suit, and while his face looked young his hair had a silver sheen. It could have been dyed. The other man wore a loose orange T-shirt and baggy blue cargo shorts. While he lounged and gave off a look of casual looseness, Darius could see that he had serious muscle tone. The silver-haired man spoke.

"I hadn't expected to see many people here in the cave, but it seems it isn't as quiet as you said." He addressed this comment to the muscled man beside him. The other man laughed and slapped his companion on the back.

"Lighten up, yeah?" He said jovially. May huffed and quickly stepped towards the men.

"Do you guys know where the exit is?" She demanded. Darius sighed and walked forward to stand next to her.

"What my friend means is, we came into the cave for some battle practice, but we've gotten rather lost. You two do seem to know where you're going." The silver-haired man quirked an eyebrow and nodded.

"If you follow us, we were just heading out as well." He said. Darius and May fell into step with the two men as they began walking in the direction the two children had just come from.

"So, you kids came in here to train before the gym, yeah?" The muscled man asked, clasping his hands behind his head and watching Darius and May. May nearly jumped in surprise.

"How'd you know that?" She demanded. The man laughed.

"I'm just intelligent like that." He laughed, causing May to scowl.

"It's because we haven't challenged the gym yet." Darius commented. May spun around to focus on him. She looked so concentrated, he thought she was going to whip out a pen and paper and start taking notes. "The Dewford gym's specialty is fighting type. Since there are a lot of wild fighting type Pokemon in this cave it's a good place to train."

"But how did he know that we haven't challenged the gym yet? What if we challenged and lost, and _then_ came here to train?" May countered. Darius smiled.

"It's because he's the gym leader, correct?" May spun around again to face the man.

"No way!" She hollered. Darius hushed her as her loud voice echoed throughout the cave. "How'd you know that?" She demanded.

"It's rather simple." Darius shrugged. "He knows we came here to train because he's the gym leader, and that's also why he knows that we didn't come here after challenging the gym, because then he'd have seen us." May thought about that for a minute before huffing.

"So confusing!" She growled, crossing her arms.

"So you guys are gonna challenge me when we get out, yeah?" The gym leader asked, watching the children curiously. May pounded her fist into the air.

"You bet!"

"I'll just watch, I'm not battling." At Darius's words, May spun around, glowering.

"By the way, what's up with you anyway?" She demanded. Darius put his hands up and scooted away from the girl.

"What do you mean?"

"You only battled me yesterday because my father asked you to, but when you offered to help me train you left the battle to your Pokemon alone! But I bet if you actually tried, you could beat up anybody!" She seemed to think for a minute before crossing her arms and pouting. "You could probably even beat my dad if you tried." Darius shook his head rapidly. He was about to say he simply didn't like battling randomly and he probably would not be able to beat her father, but the silver-haired man cleared his throat. Darius and May turned to look at him.

"Something's been bothering me." He said, eyes on Darius. "You look very familiar, have we met?" Darius shrugged.

"I don't think so. My name's Darius."

"Hmm." The man said. His companion glanced between the two before chuckling.

"Quiet over here is Steven, and if you didn't know my name, it's Brawley." Darius nodded to Brawley.

"Thank you for showing us the way out." He said. Brawley nodded, grinning. Steven was still lost in thought. That moment Darius's PokeNav began ringing, nearly making him jump out of his skin. Steven, Brawley, and May all looked at him.

"What's that?" May demanded.

"It's just my PokeNav. But, um, hang on." Darius dug the device out of his bag and quickly found the answer button. Then he brought it to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked curiously. Who in the world would be calling him?

"Darius! Good to hear you've figured out the PokeNav!" Ed's jovial voice answered him.

"Oh, hello Ed. What's up? Did something happen again?"

"Happen? Oh no, nothing like that. However, I had Jackson look into that Team Aqua, and that thief was definitely a member." Darius nodded before realizing that Ed wouldn't be able to see him.

"I knew that."

"Of course you did, you're the one that told us. Anyway, I wanted to give you a warning. Apparently there's some others that are acting almost exactly the same, but they're dressed differently."

"Dressed differently?" Darius asked.

"They call themselves Team Magma according to the reports. I guess there have been several incidents where Team Aqua and Team Magma have shown up in the same location and gotten into fights. Like, big fights, with not only battles but brutal fistfights as well. Seems the two hate each other. Thought I'd fill you in since it seemed relevant."

"Yeah, thanks Ed. I'll keep an eye out." After that, Ed hung up and Darius did the same. Then, after tucking his PokeNav back into his bag he turned to look at the rest of the group. "Sorry about that." He said sheepishly. Steven still had that thoughtful look on his face, but Brawley shrugged.

"Whatever. A call's a call, and it sounded important, so whatever, yeah?"

"Yeah, what Brawley said, whatever!" May declared. Then she turned to face Brawley. "As soon as we get out of this cave, I wanna fight you!" Brawley raised an eyebrow and then shrugged.

"Sure thing. I like your spirit girl."

* * *

Darius sat on top of a large boulder, watching May and Brawley face off. Steven was overseeing the battle. Both May and Brawley were using a single Pokemon each, Taillow and Mahukita respectively. As Steven's hand came down, Taillow immediately launched into the air. Just in time too as Mahukita picked up a large boulder and hurled it at the little bird. Rock Throw, Darius observed. If Mahukita had rock-type attacks under his belt, there was a chance that May's victory wasn't as assured as she'd been declaring earlier.

"Okay Taillow, let's wow him with our speed!" Taillow swept down low, angling his body so his wing would smack against Mahukita. Wing Attack, then. Mahukita hunched down, curling on itself. It didn't look like a defensive move though, Darius observed. It looked more like, Bide. Darius raised an eyebrow, becoming worried. If May wasn't careful, Brawley could take her out in one hit. Off to the side, Darius didn't notice Steven observing him. The silver-haired man watched as Darius analysed the flow of the battle, and quietly he pulled out his own PokeNav with a frown.

Back in the battle, May's attack hit. And it hit hard. "Now Taillow," May was calling, "hit him again!" Taillow swept in, and off to the side, Darius couldn't hold back a wince. The Wing Attack hit again, but the two attacks were not enough to knock out the Mahukita. In a flash the fighting type reached out and, with a large, heavy fist, swatted the small bird out of the air. Taillow smashed into the ground hard, the force of his own attacks thrown back by the Bide, fainting the little bird. After a minute the gym leader frowned.

"Steven?" Brawley called. "You in there?" Steven looked up from his PokeNav, a deep frown on his face. He looked over at the battle and raised his eyebrow.

"It seems Taillow is unable to battle, so Brawley is the winner." With that he nodded and glanced back at his PokeNav before stuffing it in his bag and striding back towards town. Brawley raised an eyebrow but didn't stop the other man. Darius looked to May as she approached him.

"What happened?" She asked the boy. Darius shrugged.

"Mahukita used Bide. It requires the Pokemon to take the opponent's attacks and then throw them back with increased intensity. The massive damage that your two wing attacks did were like throwing gasoline on a fire once Mahukita used Bide." May nodded, mouth in an 'o' again.

"I saw you flinch too; you could see what move he was using as he was using it." She stated. Darius shrugged.

"I guess I'm just really good at recognizing attacks."

"You did that in our battle too."

"I guess so."

"Teach me."

"...I can try."

* * *

After May's loss on the beach, she, Darius, and Brawley returned to the town. After healing their Pokemon, Darius gave May some strategy tips that he'd come up with from watching her first battle, and armed with her new knowledge, May re-challenged Brawley. Even ran through the length of the gym to get to him. With Darius's tips set firmly at the fore of her mind, May was able to beat the gym leader. Of course, as the gym didn't allow spectators, Darius wasn't able to see the battle, but that was fine by him. After the battle she rejoined him aboard Mr. Briney's ship. The elderly man said if neither of them were too prone to seasickness they could sail though the night. May, who was itching to get into more battles in Slateport, agreed. Darius too wanted to continue on. Perhaps after he delivered the component he'd be able to hunt down the Tyler that his brother had mentioned in his letter. It seemed like a good course of action.

* * *

Steven sat in a chair, hand resting thoughtfully on his chin. He stared at the screen he'd pulled up on the computer. A scowling, gaunt, blue-haired man was being taken away by police officers, followed by a second, younger cuffed man, also with blue hair, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, despite the restraints around his wrists and the cops at his sides. Following up was a red-haired woman in tears. Steven's eyes roamed over the headline again. 'Team Galactic Finally Apprehended' it read. He sighed and dragged the mouse over to open the second tab. Darius's face peeked at him from under the caption "Wanted for questioning in connection to Team Galactic". Steven sighed again. He closed the pages, thanked the nurse on duty for allowing him to use her computer, and strode out of the PokeCenter. After asking around for a while, Steven discovered that Darius and May had gotten on a private ship and sailed towards Slateport. With that, Steven knew what his next destination was. He had some questions for the boy afterall.

* * *

**AN: Sorry, little bit choppy, this one. I couldn't quite make it flow just right. Ah well. As they always say, you are your harshest critic. Or at least, that's how it is in my world. See you poppets next week! **

**/AN**


	5. Team Aqua Tries to Get Revenge

**AN: Hullo. I guess this one is a little quieter. I dunno. I just wasn't feeling this chapter. Anyway, big message here folks! I need you to leave a review. First, because there's at least two people following at the time of this chapter being posted, and I've already reached chapter five, but no-one's given an opinion... And secondly, I'm thinking of increasing my update time. I've been on a writing roll recently, so I've got quite a few chapters that I'm itching to share with you! But I need to know if you guys just want me to continue posting every Thursday, or if I should post an extra chapter on another day! Please tell! If you don't give an opinion, then I'll have to make a decision on my own, but I'd rather let you guys have a say! **

**So, here ends my begging. Just one more thing before I let you read the chapter. For those of you with Black 2 & White 2, I have one thing to say. Humilau Gym Leader = O.o ... no comment. He's, uh, yeah. Interesting. Reminds me of one of my friends lol :) **

**/AN**

* * *

5. In Which Team Aqua Tries to Get Revenge and Reporters Laugh at Nonsense

* * *

There really were a large number of people itching for battle at the Slateport beach, just as May had said. Darius stretched, yawning and glancing up at the clear blue sky. May was in the middle of yet another battle. Darius didn't mind though. He rather liked being with the girl. It felt, nostalgic? Perhaps he had travelled with a similar person before, just like he was with May. The girl in question had just finished battling her most recent opponent, and Darius could see her dashing across the sand to reach him. She had a huge grin on her face.

"That guy, he said there's something called a 'Battle Tent' up in the northern part of the city!" She paused and then leaned forward and grabbed Darius's wrist. "Come on!" She practically shouted. Darius couldn't help but shush her just a little. She ignored him however and began dragging the boy up the beach, chattering on about how awesome something called a 'Battle Tent' would be. Darius was just fine with being dragged. That is, he was fine with being dragged until a flicker of movement was his only warning before the Poochyena was on them. Darius shouted and pushed May away, startling the girl. He jumped back himself and the Poochyena followed, jaws clenching around the space his leg had just occupied.

"What's going on?" May demanded. Darius reached for his belt, intending to call out Ayashii and Kuraishi, but the Poochyena lunged again, forcing him to retreat further.

"May." He said as calmly as he could, eyes fixed on his attacker, mind whirling at a thousand miles an hour. "Go to the PokeCenter, and call the police." May frowned.

"I'm going to ditch you? Yeah right!" May reached for her own Pokeballs, but Darius saw the flicker of movement and shouted at her to move. At his shout she looked around and barely managed to dodge the second incoming Poochyena. May quickly hurried over to stand beside Darius as the two Poochyenas began circling them. Then two familiar faces appeared.

"Hello brat." One of the members of Team Aqua said, scowling.

"Remember this tactic, brat?" The other one demanded. Darius sighed.

"I'm assuming you're the dude from Petalburg Forest." He said, pointing at the first man, mentally labelling the man as Aqua 1 in his head. "And you're the one from the Rusturf Tunnel." He said, pointing at the second man and mentally labelling that one as Aqua 2. "And as to your question, I do remember this tactic. If I recall however, you did steal the important whatever it was and take a hostage, thus I believe my actions were justified."

"Good memory brat." Aqua 2 snarled, ignoring the boy's last comment. "But then you had to go steal the damn thing back. From what I hear though, you still have it." Darius grinned.

"And the fact that I still have it matters to you because?"

"Because you're going to hand it over before you get hurt brat!" he snarled.

"Let me give you a little memory test now." Aqua 1 said. "When you were being all meddlesome in the forest, you asked me a question about the rest of Team Aqua's location." Darius felt the blood drain from his face.

"Let me guess, they're in the city." He said quietly.

"Bingo!" The man shouted, grinning.

"Who do you punks think you are?" May yelled, loosing her temper. She stepped towards the two men and instantly the two Poochyena lunged at her. Darius quickly pulled her back by her shoulder before the Pokemon could reach her.

"As to who we are little girl, I'm sure your boyfriend will be able to answer that easily." Aqua 2 snarled. Darius could practically hear the fuse break in the girl's head, but he tightened his grip on her shoulder.

"They're a part of Team Aqua, which is, from what I've gathered, a rather unsavoury group of criminals." He muttered to her.

"Spot on brat. Now if you want you and your girlfriend to stay in one piece, you'll start walking." Darius took a step in the direction the man had indicated, but May stayed put.

"You bastards think you can get away with threatening us?" She demanded.

"Right now May, they can. Now come on, let's play along." Darius whispered in her ear, keeping his voice low so the Aquas wouldn't hear him. May glowered, but she began walking beside him.

The men quickly led them through the streets of Slateport, and Darius quietly observed the layout of the city. It was a rather nice city. A large open-air market selling all sorts of goods took up a large amount of the city's space. There was also a large building in front of which many other Team Aqua members were lounging. The Slateport Oceanic Museum according to the lettering on the side of the building.

They were led through the city, and every so often bystanders would glance at the group. However, since Darius and May had not been bound, no one commented. The angry faces on the men kept any socialites away, for which Darius was glad. He really didn't want innocent bystanders dragged into this; that was for sure. Honestly he felt guilty about getting May dragged into it. Finally Darius spotted the men's destination. The Slateport Shipyard. However, there were three people standing in front of the door.

"What the hell is this?" Aqua 2 snarled as they approached the strangers. One of them, the one that was wearing the long white coat, glanced over as they approached.

"If you four would like a tour of the shipyard, I'm afraid you'll have to come back later as the shipyard is currently busy." The man said with a small smile, nudging his glasses up his nose.

"Shut up and move out of the way!" Aqua 1 shouted. The two other people that had been standing with the man turned to face them. The male had a baseball cap and a large camera resting on his shoulder and the female had a microphone in her hand. Reporters? Darius felt his pulse quicken. That could become very bad.

"Hey, he said the shipyard is closed, yelling isn't going to do you any good." The cameraman said.

"Stay out of this punk, unless you want to get hurt." Aqua 2 said. The cameraman made a face and turned to the reporter.

"I think he was threatening us Gabby. How rude." The cameraman turned back to their group, pulling a Pokeball from his belt and releasing a Magnetite. Gabby herself released a Whismur. Darius instantly began analysing the situation. Aqua 1 was obviously panicking.

"What do we do?" He hissed to Aqua 2. "We can't fight them and hold the hostages at the same time!"

"Shut up idiot!" Aqua 2 yelped. But it was too late. In their flash of distraction Darius released Ayashii and Kuraishi while May released Mudkip and Taillow.

"Kuraishi, get their Pokemon! Ayashii, distract them!" Darius called while jumping back and pulling May with him. At the same time the girl was howling "Attack!" over and over. Darius quickly ran over to join the reporters, nodding to them.

"Thanks for that." He said to their surprised faces.

"I thought you were with them." The cameraman admitted. May crossed her arms and scowled.

"The bastards thought they could take us hostage. Idiots. If they knew Darius they knew he'd beat the shit out of them. Right?" She addressed this to the boy in question who simply sighed.

"May, that's exactly why they just tried to take us hostage." May nodded.

"Thus, they're idiots."

"Excuse me," Gabby said, lifting her hand slightly, "but what are those two even doing?" Darius and May glanced over to see their two attackers hunched over, forearms pressing against their heads and moaning lowly.

"Just Confusion." Darius said simply.

"Isn't it illegal to directly attack a person with your Pokemon? Not that I'm complaining, they attacked us first." May said.

"Ayashii created a field again, so it's not technically a direct attack." He said simply. He'd used the same logic with Kuraishi biting at the man's pants back in the Rusturf tunnel. Darius walked towards the men. Ayashii lowered the field as he approached. The two men looked up at him as he stood over them.

"Why are you guys even trying to steal this stuff anyway? What's it to you?" He demanded, twisting his voice ever so slightly. His voice came out clipped and harsh, and both the men flinched.

"We were told to steal it, we don't know what it does." Aqua 2 said. At the same time Aqua 1 said, "It's some important part of the submarine that we were going to steal!" Aqua 2 looked at Aqua 1 and hit him in the head.

"Idiot! Don't tell him that!"

"Crap! I didn't say that!" Darius just smiled. Aqua 2 glared at him.

"Who the hell are you anyway brat?" Darius shrugged.

"Apparently I'm just 'the brat.'" He said casually before walking away. The man in the white coat stepped forward to face him.

"Did they say submarine component?" He asked nervously.

"Is that the thing you were delivering Darius?" May asked, also approaching the boy. He nodded.

"Ed said to deliver it to Captain Stern in Slateport." The reporters joined them as well.

"What a coincidence!" The cameraman laughed. "That's Captain Stern right there!" He said, pointing at the man in the white coat.

"Really? Then this is yours." Darius dug the package Ed had given him out of his bag, handing it to the scientist.

"Oh thank you! I've been waiting for this piece to arrive!" With that Captain Stern hurried into the Shipyard.

"Now all we need to do is bring these idiots to the police." May said, jabbing her thumb behind Darius.

"Bring who to the police?" The cameraman asked, glancing and then nodding in the same direction. Everyone turned to look at the spot where the men had been. 'Had' being past tense.

"Dammit!" May swore.

"It's alright." Darius said. "I'm sure with the way I've pissed them off they'll be back. They seemed to be the kind of guys who would take a loss personally."

"Well." Gabby huffed. "I'm going to write a whole report on those damn criminals! Let's go!"

"Ah! Hang on!" Darius yelped as the woman made to storm off. She turned back to look at him in surprise. "If you write a report or anything, please don't mention me." Her eyebrows lifted.

"You don't want to be on TV? Who doesn't want to be on TV?" She demanded. "Even Tyler here likes being on TV, and he's behind the camera most of the time!"

"Hey now Gabby, if the boy doesn't want to be on camera, he doesn't want to. As for the report, we can still do it. I think I can dig up some gossip on them anyhow." Tyler made to walk after but Darius quickly snagged his arm.

"What was your name?" He asked surprise. The man lifted an eyebrow.

"Tyler." Darius nodded.

"Tyler. Tyler the cameraman. Tyler the cameraman with useful gossip. Okay, I'm going to say something that might sound strange if you're not the Tyler I'm looking for." Tyler's other eyebrow lifted and Gabby leaned forward, obviously intent on hearing what Darius had to say. He took a breath to steel himself.

"I was told if I wanted you to share some info with me, and you weren't sharing, to say," He paused again, and then plunged forward. "Satty's gonna whoop you bad ahou!" There was dead silence following his nonsensical exclamation. For a heartbeat Darius panicked, worrying that it was indeed the wrong Tyler.

"Who's Satty?" May asked. At almost the exact same time, Gabby asked "What's an ahou?". There was a pause before Tyler spoke.

"Where'd you hear that?" Tyler asked, face straight.

"In a letter from my brother." Darius said. May and Gabby turned to look at Tyler. He held his straight face for about a second before he bent double and began laughing hysterically. Darius couldn't help but letting out a sigh of relief.

"I thought you looked like that crazy dolt! Now I know why!" He said between laughs.

"He said in his letter that you'd crack up like that, and then you'd be chattier than a journalist with ADD and a cup of coffee afterward." Tyler took several gulps of air, clutching at his stomach and trying to repress his laughter.

"I'm definitely missing something here." Gabby said, frowning. She lightly slapped Tyler upside the head. "What's he talking about?" Laughter under control, Tyler grinned and dropped a hand on Darius's shoulder.

"What are you doing all the way down here in Hoenn anyway kiddo? Unless it has something to do with your uncle and brother?" Darius blinked, and then nodded.

"It's kind of, well, actually it's very complicated. Short answer is yes though. Someone named Special Agent Looker offered me a, deal, that involved me coming to Hoenn and, investigating a suspicious group of criminals. I'm pretty sure that's Team Aqua, but I've also got a bit of info on a second group going by the name Team Magma." Tyler nodded.

"This is going to require more time and talking to sort out. And possibly some coffee."

* * *

**So, maybe it was just the fact that it was kinda one 'scene' I guess? I didn't jump anywhere in this chapter, so maybe that's why it felt shorter. It's about the same length as some other chapters afterall. My average chapter length by the way seems to be around 2k+ wordcount. Some chapters (like chapter 2) will be longer, just because I couldn't find a place I was comfortable cutting them. So yeah. /AN**


	6. Darius Learns More About Himself

**AN: Hi there readers. Well, no-one commented, so I guess I'll keep updating on Thrusdays, as I have been. So, yeah. I'm getting over a nasty cold that's been going around, so sorry if I'm not too chatty. Don't own Pokemon. /AN**

* * *

6. In Which Darius Learns About Himself and Tyler Plays Mind Games With Steven Stone

* * *

Darius wasn't sure how he did it, but Tyler managed to shoo off both Gabby and May. With that done, he quickly got serious.

"Amnesia, huh?" He asked, looking at the two letters Darius had handed to him. "That's certainly a damn complication in this whole mission. And I met Jupiter when I went vacationing up in Sinnoh to visit your brother once. She's a scary woman." He pulled a digital camera out of his messenger bag and quickly began flipping though the pictures. "There," He said, stopping on one and handing the camera to Darius. In the picture were four people. One Darius recognized as Tyler. The man standing next to him had dark blue hair that seemed to stick up in two horns, and Darius felt something in his head click as he looked at the man. That might have been his brother. There were also two women in the picture. Tyler leaned over and pointed to one of them. "She's the freakiest one, tall, gravity-defying purple hair, too much makeup to look human." Darius nodded. Even her picture freaked him out.

"Of course, her face is more recognizable than yours, and she's the one that's all over the newspapers. I'll contact some friends in Sinnoh and tell them an anonymous source told me she might try fleeing to Hoenn."

"They'll take your word for it?" Darius asked incredulously. Tyler nodded.

"I've never submitted wrong information. Got a reputation in just about every region." Darius nodded slowly. "You have a PokeNav?" Tyler asked abruptly. Darius glanced back at him and nodded. "Give me the number; any time any new info crops up I'll give you a whistle. Whether it's about Team Aqua or Magma, or Jupiter, or anything. How's that?" Darius nodded, smiling. He offered the PokeNav to Tyler and the man proceeded to enter the alternate numbers in their respective devices.

"Thanks. I just wish I knew how I got amnesia."

"I'll do a bit of nosing around and see if I can't dig anything up. It's unlikely, but you never know. Someone might have seen something."

"Thanks Tyler."

"As for the local police, don't worry. Only the captains really look at the wanted list, and they only usually look at local criminals. I just checked it, and you're not that prominent either. Not to mention your last spotted location was on Mount Coronet in the Sinnoh region. They have no reason to look for you." Darius nodded. "By the way Darius, do you want me to tell Saturn about your memory problem? He might be able to give some more information on exactly what you were supposed to be doing here." Darius shook his head.

"From what he said in his letter, I assume he's in prison. It's highly unlikely that his mail isn't read before delivery, and for some reason I don't want Agent Looker to know about this. I'm determined to uncover both the criminals and my memory. Something tells me he'd come and interfere somehow if he knew what happened." Tyler nodded.

"I'm getting the same impression from his letter. Ha, neither of us really know him but we get the same ideas. That must mean it's true, right?" Both Tyler and Darius laughed.

"What's so funny boys?" May said from right behind Darius, causing the boy to jump and yelp in surprise. Tyler stealthily tucked Darius's letters into the boy's bag before May saw them. The girl's attention was on the man's camera however. She shuffled to Darius's side and picked it up, staring at the digital screen.

"This blue-haired man looks kinda like you Darius; is he your brother?"

"Yeah." Darius said.

"Creepy friends your brother has." The girl commented.

"I don't think they're friends exactly, but if you see the purple-haired one, she's called Jupiter, run like hell, okay?" Darius said. May raised an eyebrow.

"I'll only run like hell if you agree to run like hell too. No more telling me to run like hell on my own again, got it buster?" She leaned forward until her face filled his whole vision and Darius nodded. Satisfied May leaned back and Darius let out a breath.

"So what's your story May?" Tyler asked curiously, reclaiming his camera from the girl's grasp.

"My story?" The girl repeated curiously.

"Darius is on anti-criminal gang patrol, so why'd you join up with him?" May shrugged.

"He's stronger than me." She said simply.

"I am not." He replied. May scowled at him.

"He's a better battler." She revised. "He's a strategist. I use brute force. So when he completely flipped a battle on me without even seeming to try, I decided that he was going to teach me."

"She really did decide it like that. I didn't even know about it until I was on my way out and she informed me of such." Darius said to Tyler with a grin. May reached over and tugged on his ear, causing Darius to yelp. The girl just smiled toothily.

"I'm going to become the Petalburg Gym leader. All I have to do is beat the current one. I've decided that brute strength isn't going to faze him though, so I've got to train even more." She punched her fist into the air, grinning fiercely. "I still have to get stronger though. The gym leader in Dewford beat me the first time too, but Darius gave me some tips and I was able to win the second time." Tyler nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll remember to keep an eye on you then. Who knows, maybe we'll do a report on you if you become the youngest gym leader in Hoenn." May's eyes glittered.

"You'd better have that camera ready then, because that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Darius couldn't help but grin.

"Where'd Gabby go by the way?" Tyler asked suddenly. "Weren't you two going to check out the new battle tent together?" May huffed.

"Stupid battle tent. I thought it was some place where you show up and you just battle anyone who's in the tent. But no!" May grabbed an empty chair and flopped down in it, crossing her arms and huffing. "You have to enter some kind of group, and then you have to wait for others to finish their battles, and then, gah! It's so annoying!" Darius chuckled but Tyler all-out laughed at May's pout. The girl retaliated by kicking him in the shin. "Gabby stayed behind to interview some of the battlers."

"TYLER!" As if on cue, Gabby crashed through the doors of the café Darius and Tyler had been sitting in, startling everyone who was there. "Tyler!" She yelled again.

"Gabby! What?" Tyler said in a quieter voice. Gabby glanced around until she found him and then ran over, latching onto his arm.

"Hurry! Before he gets away! We have to get an interview! We _have_ to Ty! Do you know how good this is? Hurry up!"

"Who?" Tyler demanded, trying to hold the bouncing reporter still and failing.

"_Steven Stone!_ Who else! Do you know how hard it is to catch that man?! To interview him?!" With that Gabby snagged Tyler's bag and his camera and ran back out the door. Tyler sighed.

"And we're off on yet another story." He said, standing up.

"Hey Darius, do you think it's the same Steven we met in Dewford?" May asked. Darius shrugged. "Well, I'm going to go find out. He sounds important." May quickly took off after Gabby. As soon as she was out the door Tyler stood up and motioned for Darius to follow him, suddenly frowning. He spoke as they began walking.

"The Steven you met in Dewford, did he have silver hair, steel-type Pokemon team?" Darius nodded.

"He had a Metagross with him. And he does have silver hair. Guess it is the same guy." Darius said, grinning. Tyler frowned.

"That's not good Darius. Steven Stone is the current reigning champion of the Hoenn region. He also helps the police on a regular basis. The man's a genius in several rights. Did he seem to have any interest in you specifically when you met him?" Darius frowned.

"He did ask if we'd met before. Something seemed to be bothering him though because he took off pretty quick after May's battle with Brawley." Tyler shook his head.

"Most likely he remembered your face from the international wanted list."

"What?" Darius froze. Tyler turned to face him.

"I know you're not a bad kid, but you've got to get evidence to prove the same to him. Go north to Mauville. I'll tell May you've gone to check a lead on Team Aqua. Not a lie, I saw some of them wandering around just south of Mauville anyway. Don't stay in Mauville long though. He's probably going to head there to try and cut you off. Move fast now. Go." Tyler nodded up a nearby road. "That'll take you to Mauville. I'll send May after you. Now hurry up. You can't do anything about Team Aqua or Team Magma when you're cuffed." Darius nodded and turned towards the road Tyler had indicated.

"Thanks Tyler." He said. The cameraman grinned.

* * *

"It's no problem. You and your brother have such personalities that are simply impossible to ignore. You're very likeable people in my opinion." Tyler nodded back to Darius and walked in the opposite direction.

Steven frowned at the hyper reporter that was very literally in his face. According to several people on the beach and in the open-air market, they'd seen someone matching young Darius's description wandering around with a girl that was most likely May. Steven had followed the reports towards the shipyard, but that was when the reporter, who'd been coming out of the recently built Battle Tent, had spotted, and recognized, him. He didn't want to confront the boy with the loud reporter buzzing around, but he also didn't want to insult her. Reporters could be very talkative creatures. He'd told her he had a tight schedule, but she insisted that she only needed her cameraman and a quick interview. She'd run off to find the cameraman and Steven quickly tried to escape, but she had just as quickly found him again. While she didn't have the cameraman, she did have the camera, insisting that he was coming right behind her. Steven was about to tell her he really did have to leave before a voice made him pause.

"You _are_ the same Steven!" Steven glanced behind the reporter to see May running over, waving wildly.

"May, you _know_ Steven Stone?!" The reporter demanded. Joining them, May nodded.

"Yeah, Darius and I met him in Dewford!" May turned to look at Steven. "We didn't realise you were a famous guy!" Steven raised an eyebrow but did not comment.

"Jeez May, you guys are such busy people!" the reporter huffed. "If Darius wasn't so camera-shy we could make a wonderful documentary on you two!"

"Huh?" May said, reeling back.

"I can see it now!" The reporter said, eyes glittering. "Just imagine it! I mean, these criminals jump you two to get revenge on Darius for stopping their criminal doings, yet you still turn around and whoop them! Can't you see it?" She lifted her hand as if presenting a title. "Two children, travelling around the Hoenn region, defeating criminals and shooting for gym leadership! Not to mention, your fiery personality and Darius's general air of quiet, mysterious, strategical power would make the two of you stars! That and you make an adorable couple." May squawked at that comment.

"Except for the fact that Darius requested to stay off-camera." A new voice said. May and the female reporter turned and the woman scowled.

"Tyler! What took you so long? And where'd Darius go?" Tyler shrugged.

"Sorry Gabby. I told him about the Team Aqua members I saw hanging around south of Mauville a while back and he went to go check them out. I offered to come inform you May since he wanted to check it out before they got up to something nasty." May huffed angrily and ran off waving bye to the group, intent of catching up with her friend. Gabby sighed.

"Honestly!" Gabby huffed. "The boy gets kidnapped by violent criminals who obviously hold some kind of grudge, and not even an hour later he's running _at _them again. We really could make a good documentary on those two. Can't you talk to him Tyler? You know, you two obviously know each other, you might be able to change his mind!" Tyler sighed.

"Gabby, I just met him today. We just happen to know the same person. And even I could tell that Darius is a quiet person." The woman sighed heavily.

"I know, but still." Then she blinked and her head shot up. "Mr. Stone! I'm so sorry! I forgot you were saying you had something to do! And here I am just wasting your time!" Steven sighed and offered the flustered woman a small smile.

"It's fine. I'm sure what I was going to do can wait for a bit. Though, I would like to hear about this hostage situation?" Gabby nodded vigorously.

"That's right! There's these horrible people running around! What did Darius call them?" She demanded, turning to her cameraman. Tyler shrugged.

"He told me those men were from Team Aqua. He's also been looking into a group called Team Magma though. While we were talking earlier he told me about how those two men had tried to rob the Devon Corporation in Rustboro." Steven felt his pulse rise. Outwardly however, he showed no reaction.

"What gall! Is that how Darius ended up with that whatever it was?" Gabby asked. Tyler nodded.

"I guess the President of Devon Corporation himself asked Darius to make sure it was delivered safely." Steven made a mental note to call his father as soon as possible and ask about what exactly happened. Gabby was huffing.

"You see? Brilliant documentary material!" The cameraman nodded.

"Gabby, I don't think we should bother poor Mr. Stone with an interview though. We still need to wrap up the report you started on Team Aqua, as well as our interview with Captain Stern _and_ the interviews you got in the battle tent. And anyway, I don't have enough film left in the camera for another interview." Gabby blinked a few times.

"Actually, I forgot all about our interview with Captain Stern." She admitted quietly. Then she turned to Steven. "I'm so sorry! I wasted all your time trying to get an interview, and now we can't even do it!" Steven shrugged.

"You can get a rain-check. If we ever run into each other again, I'll volunteer for an interview, how's that?" Gabby's eyes glittered. Honestly Steven hated interviews, but this chatty pair seemed to be a wealth of interesting knowledge.

"Thankyouverymuch!" Gabby yelped. Steven couldn't help but grin.

"Where are you off to now Mr. Stone?" The cameraman asked curiously. Steven shrugged.

"Off to Rustboro I do believe. Goodbye." Steven quickly turned away and began walking back towards the beach. Behind him, Tyler grinned triumphantly. Operation subtly divert Steven away from Darius with father-related concern; success.

* * *

**AN: Ha, Tyler and Gabby are loosely based on the reporters from the Manga :) And I've always thought the cameraman was underestimated. Buwahaha! So yeah, see you next week peeps!**


	7. Brendan Makes an Entrance

**AN: Yeah... Hi. Sorry about, um, the date... I'd thought, since no-one was reviewing... No-one was really enjoying this... Sorry Tucker1901 and Cappa... I'm doing a double-post today for you guys. Heh, you're my only followers... I'm desperately trying not to be depressed about this, but I'll thank you for following this at least :) I'll stop rambling and being depressed now and give you the chapters. /AN**

* * *

7. In Which Brendan Makes an Entrance, Hits on May, And Overall Hijacks This Chapter

* * *

"Darius! Darius, wait up!" Darius paused in his not-quite-sprint north to wait for May to catch up. As soon as she did she swept her leg and knocked Darius's knees out from under him. Darius quickly leaned back into his fall and brought his hands down, absorbing some of the force of hitting the ground into his arms and shoulders even as he yelped in surprise. From his now sitting position on the ground, Darius looked up at May.

"I thought you'd taken off without me." She said quietly. Darius shook his head.

"Sorry May. I wanted to track these guys down. I've now run into this group three times, and three times they've managed to escape me." May nodded quietly and flopped down on the ground beside him.

"I get it. Just, don't do that again, okay?" She was quiet for a minute before she crossed her arms and huffed. "You still need to teach me all your little strategy tricks you know." Darius grinned and nodded.

"I know." Darius was about to say something else, but a new voice interrupted him.

"Oi! May! May!" The voice called out. May's face morphed into one of extreme disgust.

"Oh lord no." She muttered under her breath. She quickly rolled to her feet and Darius followed suit, looking for the shouter. It didn't take long to find him. The new boy came hurling out of nowhere at a ridiculous speed, riding a bicycle.

"Look out!" He hollered, heading straight for Darius. He quickly yanked on the bike's handlebars to turn it, but his speed was too great and while the bike turned, the boy continued flying forward, crashing into Darius and knocking them both back several feet. Darius lay on the ground, feeling very dazed and thinking ironically of his first encounter with May.

"Brendan you idiot! What are doing?" May was howling. Darius felt the weight on his stomach shift and heard a dazed laugh.

"Hey there May. Saw you from cycling road and thought I'd come say hi, you know?"

"Oh get up already!" She huffed, reaching down and pulling the boy named Brendan up by the collar. She bent down and grabbed both of Darius's shoulders, hauling him to his feet.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Yeah." Darius said.

"I'm wonderful!" Brendan said at the exact same time. May turned a glare on him.

"I can tell you're fine, your skull is made of bedrock. Why were you going so fast anyway you dolt! Not only could somebody get hurt, somebody did!" Brendan shrugged.

"I forgot how to use the brakes." He said simply.

"Friend of yours?" Darius asked stretching his now sore back.

"Yup!" Brendan chirped happily.

"I hate you." May informed him. Brendan shrugged.

"That's just your way of saying friends."

"No, that's my way of saying I hate you." Brendan laughed.

"Her humor is amazing isn't it?" He asked Darius.

"It's not humor, it's fact. Why are you pestering me!?" May retaliated. Brendan grinned.

"Who says I'm pestering you? Anyway, I was just thinking, your Pokemon are Mudkip and Taillow, right?" May frowned, but she nodded. "And you haven't caught any new Pokemon?" May shook her head.

"What's your point Brendan?" She demanded.

"Well, I saw the Dewford gym badge on your bag, so I was just thinking you're probably off to challenge the Mauville gym next, but you're going to loose." May snorted.

"Just because you can't battle to save your life doesn't mean I suck at it." Brendan shook his head.

"No! It's not that!"

"Mauville gym is electric specialty, isn't it?" Darius noted quickly. May glanced at him. "I remember reading that on the PokeNav earlier." He said as way of explanation. May frowned and sighed.

"That is a slight problem." She admitted.

"See? Aren't you glad I told you?" Brendan asked, grinning. May heaved a sigh.

"Thank you, Brendan. Now you are free to go pester someone else."

"No way! I've got the bolt badge and the rock badge now- I wanna challenge you again!" May looked up.

"You got two badges? You suck at fighting!" Brendan shrugged.

"Maybe I got better! Maybe I'm good enough to beat you, yeah?" May snorted.

"Not in a million years."

"Then battle me!" Brendan insisted. May sighed.

"Fine. Prepare to get whooped though."

"Okay!" In Darius's opinion, Brendan looked way too happy about that.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but I'm going to try heading back down to Slateport to see if there's anywhere we can stay for the night. I didn't realise how late it was." He said. May pulled out her PokeNav and gasped.

"Jeez! Where'd the day go?"

"Um, I don't think you'll have time to get down there before the sun sets." Brendan said nervously, looking around. "Actually, it's quite a distance to Mauville too. I don't think we're going to be able to find shelter before the sun sets." Brendan looked around again and shuddered. "I was told there's lots of dangerous Pokemon that come out on this road at night."

"Hang on a sec." Darius said, pulling out his own PokeNav. He heard Brendan gasp and run over, and Darius suddenly found the other boy's hands around his wrists.

"Is that the newest model 5 PokeNav?" He demanded, staring at the device. "That hasn't even hit the shelves yet! How in the world did you get that?" Darius simply shrugged, trying to edge away from the other boy.

"Ed, I mean, Mr. Stone, gave it to me so we could stay in touch." Brendan's wide eyes lifted and he grabbed Darius by both his shoulders.

"You mean to tell me that you and the president of the Devon Corporation are on first-name terms?" Brendan's eyes were wide and his face was frozen in shock.

"Yeah, yeah, Darius is cool, everyone knows that. Jeez, you're so dramatic." May huffed, dragging Brendan out of Darius's personal space.

"Does that mean you've met his son?" Brendan demanded, eyes glittering. Darius shrugged.

"I don't think I have." Brendan frowned.

"What do you mean you 'don't think' you have? Either you've met him or you haven't! No one can meet him without realizing it! No one!"

"And why is that, Captain Annoying?" May asked sarcastically.

"Because!" Brendan insisted. "How in the world would you NOT recognize the reigning Champion of the Hoenn region 7 years running; Steven Stone!" May's hand shot out and grabbed Darius's arm tightly. She didn't look at him.

"Darius? Steven's last name was Stone, wasn't it?" She asked quietly. Darius nodded.

"Tyler said he was the Pokemon Champion, I didn't realize he was Mr. Stone's son though." Now May looked at him.

"You mean I was just making small talk with the Champion of the Pokemon League?" She howled incredulously. Then she gasped. "And he refereed my battle with Brawley! Oh my god! No wonder Gabby was so excited to see him in Slateport!"

"You made small talk with Steven Stone!?" Brendan demanded, staring at May. Then his head shot up. "Steven Stone is in Slateport?"

"No, not anymore." Darius said, looking at his PokeNav. "I got some kind of message from Tyler just now- Steven's gone off to Rustboro." Darius sighed in relief internally. If the man was going to Rustboro, that meant he'd found something that took precedence over following Darius. For which the boy was grateful.

"Damn!" Brendan swore. "I need to get to Rustboro, fast!"

"He'll probably have left by the time you get there." Darius informed him.

"No matter! I must hurry! Farewell May! Until fate brings us together again!" With that, Brendan grabbed his bicycle from where it had crashed and hopped on, speeding towards Slateport and out of sight.

"Damn he's annoying!" May growled as soon as Brendan was out of sight. Darius stared at the place where Brendan had disappeared.

"He seemed to like you." The boy commented.

"Don't make me hurt you." She growled in retaliation. "Anyway, what are we going to do about nightfall?" Darius shrugged, glancing back at his PokeNav.

"Honestly, Mauville is closer than Slateport to our current position, but we won't reach either until after dark. What do you say?"

"I say let's go forward to Mauville. That way we aren't doubling back on ourselves." Darius nodded in agreement and the pair began walking north to Mauville.

* * *

**AN: Yeah... Actually, this is kinda filler-ish, isn't it... Hmm. Okay, I'll give you chapter 8 today as well, and then 9 will come on Thursday. So yeah... Hope you guys liked it (all two of you...)**


	8. Darius Assures Everyone He's Insane

**AN: Hullo. Second part of my promised 2-chapter update. Um, I liked this chapter. I dunno what you guys'll think of it, but I hope you like. Chapter 9 will be on Thursday. Or maybe Wednesday if I have time/motivation after class. **

**I'm going to try and beg one more time- if you review before the next chapter's up, I'll post it even earlier~ /AN**

_Large blocks of text in italics are dreams._

**Oh yeah... Um, don't own Pokemon. But Darius is mine. :)**

* * *

8. In Which May Easily Beats the Mauville Gym and Darius Assures Everyone He's Insane

* * *

_Darius stood at the edge of the frozen lake, staring at the small island in the center. He heard feet crunching in the snow behind him. He didn't look to see who it was however. He already knew._

"_You'll get Uxie back, right?" The other boy asked sadly. Darius didn't move. "It's my fault Jupiter got him." The boy continued when it was obvious Darius wasn't going to answer. "I was supposed to be defending him, but I failed." The other boy sighed. "I just wasn't strong enough."_

"_You're not the only one." Darius informed him quietly. "Everyone was taken by surprise. Even me." _

"_Yeah, but you had the hardest job, so no one blames you for failing it." _

"_I blame me though." The other boy had no response to that. They stood together in silence for several minutes before Darius finally turned away from the lake. _

"_Barry," he grabbed the blonde boy's attention quietly, "Gather the others. Tell them we're meeting atop Mount Coronet." _

"_What will you be doing?" Barry asked as Darius walked away. The boy sighed._

"_We can't stop Cyrus with our own power anymore. So we're just going to have to borrow the power of someone stronger." With that, Darius left Barry standing solitary by the frozen lake, his heart as cold as the snow that dusted his hair._

* * *

When Darius woke up, he couldn't help but shiver. He imagined he could still feel the snowflakes dusting his arms even though he knew it was just a dream. The cold feeling that had been inside him remained as well. He shivered again and climbed out of bed, walking over to a window to draw back the curtain. He was surprised to find that the sun was already well above the horizon. Darius stood warming his face with its light. He stayed like that for several minutes, breathing slowly and thinking. That hadn't been any old dream, of that he was sure. It was a memory. What had he been doing? Darius slowly walked back to the bed and sat down, ignoring Kuraishi's and Ayashii's worried looks as they watched him. He tried to focus. Cyrus must have been his uncle's full name. The other boy, who was he? Darius remembered calling him Barry in his dream. That must have been his name. But who was Uxie? Were they a person? Or a Pokemon? Darius remembered who Jupiter was, but why did Jupiter go after Uxie? He clenched his eyes closed tighter. He desperately wanted to remember, and he could feel the memories right on the edge of his consciousness, just out of reach. What had he gone off to find? He'd told Barry they'd need to borrow the power of someone stronger than themselves. Who could he have been referring to? Who were the others he'd told Barry to fetch? Darius began to feel dizzy, and abruptly he felt his whole body tip sideways as he fell back into unconsciousness. The last thing he remembered was Kuraishi yipping loudly, pressing his cold nose against Darius's forehead and Ayashii squeaking and pulling on one of his ears before he fell into the darkness.

* * *

When Brendan had told May he'd won the bolt badge, she hadn't believed him. Now however, she did. When she'd woken up in the hotel, the first thing she'd done was try to wake Darius up. The boy was stubbornly staying asleep though so May left him in the room and took off to explore the city. She was delighted upon finding the day care. In return for helping to exercise the Pokemon that had been left at the day care, the old man agreed to help teach May's Pokemon some new attacks. May happily agreed after discovering that 'exercising' meant 'battling in a giant melee'. After several hours, May was delighted. She wandered outside of town to practice using Bide with Mudkip, and after a good half hour of practicing the attack, May was confident in their ability to win. So she'd gone to the gym, only to find the elderly gym leader telling jokes to some children in front of the entrance. When May challenged him he laughed heartily and sent out his Electrike right there in the street. Flabbergasted, but refusing to back down, May sent forth Mudkip. All the children gasped and pointed, shouting to all their friends and anyone within hearing range about how Watson was fighting a girl in the street. May's strategy was simple. She had Mudkip use Bide to absorb Electrike's attacks, but whenever he launched an electric attack May instructed Mudkip to drop the Bide and dodge. The battle took longer than some of her other battles, but she did win. After receiving her badge, she witnessed one of the older children challenging Watson, to which the old man agreed with more laughter. The boy lost, but Watson gave him a badge anyway, saying how impressed he was by the boy's spirit. May sighed and walked away.

Glancing at the time on her PokeNav, May had just decided to go see if Darius up yet when a Ralts appeared out of thin air right beside her. The Pokemon grabbed her pant leg and began pulling, trying to drag her forward. Trying not to step on the small psychic-type, May began to walk forward, following the tugging on her pant cuff. She was almost positive the Ralts was Darius's, Ayashii, but she didn't understand why she'd be in such a panic. Unless something had happened to Darius. Quickly May bent down and scooped Ayashii up in her arms, running in the direction of the hotel they'd checked into. When she burst into the room, she found Darius on the floor, unconscious. There was a faint frown on his face and every so often he'd twitch. He almost looked like he was asleep. However, Kuraishi lay on the boy's stomach, looking at May and whining. When the girl approached the Poochyena stood on the boy's chest and began licking his face. The boy whined faintly, but didn't wake up. Ayashii leapt from May's arms and wrapped her little arms around his neck, squeaking, but he still didn't wake up. That was starting to worry May. Not only that he wasn't waking up, but also his Pokemon's fear. There had to be a reason behind it. May knelt down and firmly grasped Darius's shoulders, standing and hauling him to his feet much as she had the day before.

"Darius?" She asked tentatively. Was something wrong with him? Or was he just having a nightmare? And why had he been on the floor? "Darius. Wake up you lazy dolt." She said. "Darius. Oi!" Her voice began rising as the boy continued to twitch in his sleep. Finally May sighed and set him on the bed. Whenever she had a hard time waking up, her father had a certain method that never failed to work. Whether or not Darius was just sleeping or not; May was not thinking about.

* * *

_Darius stood at the very edge of the cliff, staring into the eyes of the massive Pokemon that floated before him. The eyes were narrowed in suspicion and anger, but Darius stared back, unwavering. He knew this Pokemon could, and would, kill him for trespassing upon its land in such a way, but he'd had no choice._

_/Why do you dare come here, human?/ The telepathic voice echoed within the boy's head, full of anger and contempt._

"_I have come to request your help." Darius informed the deity. _

_/And why should I help a puny human such as yourself?/ the Pokemon snarled. /Give me a reason why I should bother with the affairs of _humans._/ The Pokemon spit out the last word with harsh distaste._

"_I know of your history with our kind." Darius told the Pokemon. "However, a man by the name of Cyrus is planning to enslave Dialga and Palkia and use their powers to not only build a new world, but to destroy the current one. He will also destroy your world."_

_/I can protect my own world./ The deity snarled at him, sweeping its tail and creating a wind that knocked Darius to the ground. The boy refused to break eye contact however, and slowly got back on his feet._

"_I know you can protect this dimension, but if Cyrus succeeds in creating his new universe, it will throw both dimensions out of balance. In his new world, there will be no shadow dimension. He will destroy you." The dimension twisted and distorted as the Pokemon growled in anger._

_/Insolent human! I am not that easily destroyed!/_

"_You will be if he manages to harness both Dialga and Palkia's powers!" Darius yelled back. "The three of you are equal in power, but if he turns the two of them against you, you will not be able to fight them! Listen to me Girantina!" The Pokemon reared its head back, roaring in anger._

_/How dare you address me so!/ Girantina roared again and lunged at Darius, but the boy refused to back down. Without Girantina's help, there would be nothing to stop Cyrus's ambitions. Everything would be destroyed. Everyone would die. Darius refused to let that happen. Even if he had to sacrifice himself to Girantina's fury to get the deity to open his eyes, that's what he would do. Pain exploded in Darius's chest as Girantina's body collided into him, sending him hurling through the not-space as he struggled to breathe even as his now broken ribs screamed in agony._

* * *

Darius howled as the cold water hit his face. He jumped up, clutching at his un-broken ribcage, shaking and gasping for breath. He heard a clatter and suddenly May's face was directly in front of him.

"Darius? Are you okay? Arceus you're pale! Are you okay? A nightmare?" Darius could only blink at her, shivering in fear. He'd been terrified facing against the enormous Pokemon, despite his sharp words. The beady red eyes flashed in his vision again and he heard the Pokemon's furious howls echo in his mind.

"Girantina." He muttered.

"What?" May asked from her position in front of the closet. How had she gotten there? She returned with a blanket and draped it over Darius's shaking shoulders. The boy curled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, dropping his throbbing, dripping head onto his knees.

"I'm an idiot." He mumbled. "What was I doing?"

"Darius, it was just a nightmare. Nightmares rarely make sense. Come on now, you're a very sane person. Sane people don't dwell on what happens in their nightmares." She said, but Darius shook his head.

"I was trying to piss him off- I'm sure of it. Why did I do that? That was stupid." He felt May's hands press against his shins and she gave him a light push, causing him to roll away curled into a ball as he was.

"Stop being an un-sane person." She huffed when he uncurled enough to glare at her.

"The term is insane, not un-sane." He informed her. "And I am insane. I must be. Why else would I piss him off like that? He could have eaten me. I wonder why he didn't. I would have eaten me I suppose." Darius frowned and tucked his head back into his little ball. He heard May huff again and then heard her rummaging though something.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, voice muffled by his knees.

"I'm rooting through your bag. Where's your PokeNav?" She demanded.

"Shoulder-strap pocket." He informed her. "Why are you looking for my PokeNav?" May didn't answer him though. Darius un-tucked his head again to watch as she triumphantly pulled the device out of its pocket and began pressing buttons. Finally she went back to the bed and sat cross-legged in front of Darius, the PokeNav resting between them. She reached forward and pressed another button and it began ringing loudly.

"Who are you calling?" Darius asked.

"Your friend Tyler. I'm going to ask him if you're insane." Before Darius could tell her that she didn't need to ask Tyler because he really was insane, the line connected.

"Hey Darius, what's up?" Tyler's voice asked from the PokeNav.

"Actually it's May calling." The girl informed him. "Just got a quick question. Is Darius insane?" There was a pause.

"I've met insaner people. Depends on your definition of 'insane'." He replied.

"Darius here is assuring me he's absolutely mental." May said matter-of-factly.

"Tyler, what can you tell me about a Pokemon called Girantina?" Darius asked, lifting his voice slightly so the man would be able to hear him over the Nav.

"Girantina?" Tyler hesitated.

"Is this Girantina the one you keep insisting you pissed off?" May asked, glaring at Darius.

"What exactly happened?" Tyler asked cautiously.

"I was out exploring town and Ayashii appeared out of nowhere panicking so I let her bring me back to the hotel and I found Darius on the floor having some kind of nightmare. He wouldn't wake up so I dumped a bowl of cold water on his head."

"So that's why I'm all wet." Darius scowled, picking at his dripping sleeve. May stuck her tongue out.

"You weren't waking up." She informed him. Before Darius could reply Tyler cleared his throat.

"As for Darius's nightmare, I believe it's actually a memory in nightmare form, right?" Darius nodded quietly and May frowned.

"Yeah." She said. "He's just nodding over here. What's this about pissing off some Girantina though? What is Girantina anyway? I've never heard of it."

"No, Griantina is rarely spoken of." Tyler said. "Girantina is a legendary Pokemon. In the Sinnoh Region there are two highly respected legendary Pokemon by the names of Dialga and Palkia. They both have the power to alter and manipulate time and space respectively. However, there is a third Pokemon."

"That's Girantina." Darius said.

"Yup. It's said Girantina lives in an alternate dimension, parallel to this one. To help keep this world in order, Girantina's world is of chaos. Time and space are distorted in that dimension. You could say, if Dialga is the ruler of Time, and Palkia is the ruler of Space, then Girantina is,"

"The ruler of Distortion." Darius finished. He was beginning to uncurl from his ball, eyes on the PokeNav.

"That's right. As for the nightmare of pissing Girantina off, all I know is that about 6 months ago there was a huge disturbance in time and space out in the Sinnoh region. One eyewitness reported that a man by the name of Cyrus had used some kind of strange power to force Dialga and Palkia to do as he wished. Then Girantina tore into our dimension and attacked him, allowing Dialga and Palkia to escape. Not much else is known publicly."

"And for your personal knowledge?" Darius asked. Tyler hesitated again before answering.

"After Cyrus was arrested, a boy was found severely injured and unconscious on the peak of the mountain. He most definitely wasn't there before Girantina appeared. Some people have been speculating that he had something to do with Girantina's appearance. He was taken to a hospital afterwards, but no one seems to know what happened to him after that." Darius nodded slowly. May glared at him.

"He's doing that nodding thing again. Anyway, thanks for the info." With that, she leaned forward and hung up the PokeNav. Darius frowned at her.

"That was kinda rude." He said. May shrugged.

"I don't know what happened off in Sinnoh or wherever. I will admit it doesn't sound like something I'd do, pissing off some legendary Pokemon, but it sounds like that Pokemon came to the rescue and if pissing it off was what it took for that to happen, then it makes sense." She stared at Darius. "You seem like the kind of person who would go to those lengths." She informed him. Darius shrugged.

"I guess." May smiled.

"See? Now here, look at this!" She shoved the bolt badge in the boy's face causing him to yelp and lean back. "Mudkip learned how to use Bide too! It's just as powerful as when Brawley used it on me!" She began describing in detail her battle with Watson and Darius was content to sit and listen to her. Just as she was describing how the kid who challenged him afterwards lost but still got the badge, Darius smiled.

"You're a good friend May." He informed her. The girl paused in her narration to cross her arms and huff.

"Of course!" She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're a good friend too you know." She said after a pause. Darius smiled.

"Thanks." May grinned, and then leaned forward and yanked on Darius's arm.

"Now come on! It's almost noon and I want to go check out the next town."

* * *

**AN: Um, yeah. So, bit of a deeper look into Darius's past. Next chappy's going to be really fun. Watson giving the kid that lost a badge was from the manga too. Yeah, I'm pretty influenced by that. It looks at the Pokemon world from so many different angles that you don't really see in the show. I think. I only watched like two seasons lol. So yeah. Anyway, if I were to even get a review yelling 'UPDATE!' or something along those lines, I'd greatly appreciate it. And I'd post an extra chapter in honor of that reviewer *gives puppy-eyes* /AN**


	9. Darius Comes Face-to-Face With Steven

**AN: Thank you _sooo_ much ElectricMouse1213! My first review! And thanks to that sweet little group of people that are reading this! Sorry I was in such a funk earlier by the way, life's been catching up to me... Anyway, long chappy this time, 4.5K words~ /AN**

* * *

9. In Which Rusturf Tunnel Has a Grand Opening And Darius Comes Face-to-Face With Steven Stone

* * *

The next town turned out to be far smaller than any of the cities the children had previously visited. Compared to the bustling crowds of Rustboro, Slateport, and Mauville, Veranturf seemed like nothing but a little village. Darius felt nostalgic just looking at the little houses with the beautiful gardens out front. May seemed to feel the same way.

"It's a lot like Littleroot." She commented happily, sniffing at the fresh air. Noticing Darius's confused look, she amended, "My home town." Darius nodded in understanding.

"I thought you lived in Petalburg?" Darius asked, remembering the town in which he first encountered the girl. May shook her head.

"Dad lives in Petalburg, but mum and I live several towns over in Littleroot. It's just south of Oldale, which is right next to Petalburg. It's maybe a day's walk from one to the other." Darius nodded. He could hear in the girl's voice that it wasn't her most favourite subject, so he let it be, instead turning his attention back to the small town. A young woman with dirty-blonde hair spotted the two children from her position in her garden and flagged them down.

"Are you two here for the tunnel-opening ceremony?" She asked curiously. Darius and May glanced at each other.

"Tunnel-opening ceremony?" Darius asked. The woman nodded, exiting her garden and leading them through the town.

"Yeah, it's the official opening of the Rusturf tunnel. It was supposed to be a few days ago, but I guess something happened and the police delayed it. You two didn't come here for that?" Darius shook his head.

"We just came to check out the town, see what's here, you know?" The young woman nodded.

"It's a nice, quiet place to live, but for visiting, there's not much. The Rusturf tunnel obviously, and then there's the new Battle Tent that was just opened up, but not much else. My name's Wanda by the way." Darius and May nodded, introducing themselves.

"Hey Darius, you were in Rustboro recently, weren't you?" May asked suddenly. Darius glanced over at her curiously. "Did you notice if there was a gym there? I think dad said there was, but I don't remember."

"Yes, there is a gym over in Rustboro. Are you two planning on challenging the gyms?" Wanda noted. Darius shook his head quickly.

"Just me." May huffed, glaring at the boy. "And I've already got 2 badges."

"Two?" Wanda asked curiously. "But not Rustboro's gym? That's a bit odd. People generally visit the gyms in a certain order. Something about how strong the gym leaders are. I don't know though because I'm not a trainer. My cousin is though, he just recently set out. Anyway, here we are." Wanda waved her hand at the large cliff-face and, more importantly, the hole in said cliff that was heavily decked out in ribbons. Around 20 or so people were gathered around the tunnel, and about half of them had either cameras, camcorders, or microphones. "Even with an event like this, not many people bother coming out here." Wanda explained as they approached. A tunnel worker was just finishing some kind of speech about how hard it was to dig the tunnel and how appreciative he was to all the citizens of both Rustboro and Veranturf. As he concluded the speech he hopped down from the podium and wandered over to wrap his arms around Wanda.

"This is my boyfriend by the way." Wanda said to the children as she and the worker broke apart.

"These kids looking to use the tunnel eh?" The man asked, grinning and tipping his hard hat to the children, both of whom nodded in return. Then the man leaned forward, staring at Darius.

"Aren't you that kid that ran into the tunnel when I was yelling no civilians?" The man questioned, eyes squinting. Darius gulped.

"Um, yeah?" The man leaned back and laughed.

"You sure get around, eh kid? What was your name anyway; Darius?" The boy nodded and smiled. "Well, thanks for clearing that mess." The worker continued. "I'm thinking the police would have made a huge mess if you hadn't smoked that dude out. And who knows how much damage that crazy old man would have done?" May snorted.

"Jeez Darius, for such a quiet, unassuming kid, seems you've been doing some pretty big things." Darius shrugged.

"It wasn't that big. I think everyone is just exaggerating the details." He shrugged again and May huffed.

"My name's Alex if you kids were wondering." The tunnel worker said. Darius and May nodded. Alex nodded towards the mouth of the tunnel. "Looks like they've opened it up if you wanna go through now." He commented. The group of people were indeed clearing away, and several people were already in the process of disassembling the podium and taking down the ribbons.

"It was good seeing you again." Darius said to Alex, whom nodded.

"I'd wish you luck with the gym May but with two badges already under your belt I don't think you'll need it." Wanda commented. "Unless you specialize in something like fire or flying types, in which case you'll need it."

"Why's that?" The girl asked.

"The only type both fire and flying are weak to is rock." Darius said. Wanda nodded in agreement. May grinned.

"That's fine then because Mudkip will wipe the floor with them!" May punched a fist in the air and ran towards the tunnel, catching Darius by surprise. The boy waved a quick goodbye to the couple before running after his friend.

* * *

"So, where's the gym?" May demanded about an hour later. Darius shrugged.

"Dunno. I only know where the Trainer's Inn, the PokeCenter, and the Devon Corporation Headquarters are." May gave him an odd look at the last one but did not comment.

"I'm going to look for the gym, what are you going to do?" May asked. Darius looked around, thinking.

"I might check on some friends. How about when we finish up with what we're doing, we'll meet up at the Pokemon Center?" May thought about that and then nodded.

"Sounds good. I'll see you in a bit." She said, waving to him before running off. Darius waved back before making his way to the Devon Corporation Headquarters. When he arrived, he pushed open the double glass doors just as someone else was about to walk out. Darius made to shift out of their way but the person quickly walked forward and snagged Darius's collar, dragging the boy away from the doors. Darius yelped and began squirming, trying to get free of the strong grip on his collar. The person dragged him into a small courtyard that was hidden from sight by the hulking shadow of the Devon Headquarters. Only then did they release his collar, pushing him back and causing the boy to stumble. He only just got his balance back in time to recognise Steven Stone before the man reached to his belt and withdrew a Pokeball, sending forth his Metagross. His face was flat and unreadable. Darius carefully released Ayashii and Kuraishi, watching the man for a reaction. He was smacking himself mentally for not remembering Tyler's warning about Steven going to Rustboro.

"I want answers Darius Stellon." Steven said in a cold voice.

"Like what?" Darius asked, shivering. The fact that Steven knew his last name when even Darius hadn't known it; that meant the man really had identified the boy as Tyler had warned.

"Like what a fugitive like yourself is doing running around Hoenn. And how you got here. And just what you think you're doing." His eyes narrowed and Metagross's eyes flashed. That was Darius's only warning to yell to his partners and dodge the attack that singed the bricks he'd just been standing on. Darius could feel his pulse racing and his body automatically falling into a low position; one that he subconsciously knew would be good for quickly dodging attacks. Kuraishi was snarling, but Darius hushed him quietly.

"Unfortunately Mr. Stone, I really can't answer many, if any, of your questions." Darius replied. He quickly dodged another of Metagross's attacks. He focused on keeping his breath steady. Those attacks weren't being aimed at Ayashii, nor Kuraishi, but at Darius himself. Both Kuraishi and Ayashii went after Steven with fire in their eyes, but Darius quickly called them off. Steven raised an eyebrow.

"I should tell you that you really don't have a say in the matter as to whether you answer my questions or not Stellon." Darius sighed.

"Not exactly what I meant." He replied, quickly dodging another attack.

"I've been getting mixed messages about you Stellon." Steven said coldly. "You're on an international wanted criminals list for some connection to Team Galactic, yet it seems you've been running around Hoenn trying to interfere with the doings of Team Aqua. The police report from Sinnoh described you as a dangerous battler, yet you seem to have a peaceful aversion to battling. Same with your personality; described as cold and detached, yet acting warm and friendly. Mixed signals." Steven paused for a breath and Darius dodged another attack from Metagross. "Do you think you can somehow redeem yourself by trying to stop this Team Aqua?" He demanded. Darius shrugged, dodging yet another attack. Kuraishi was wining and Ayashii had disappeared yet again, but Darius just grinned.

"I really do apologize for my lack of response Mr. Stone." Darius said to the angry champion. "However, as to most of your earlier questions, I'd really like to know the answers to myself." Steven's eyes narrowed again.

"What are you saying Stellon?" He demanded sharply. Darius chuckled lightly.

"That name for example. Until you said it after 'Darius' just now, I didn't know my own last name!" Steven seemed to freeze, but Darius continued. For some reason, even though he was under attack, he felt like laughing. He wondered again if he wasn't, to some degree, insane. "How I got here? I don't know. What I'm doing here? I only know as much as a letter in my backpack told me! Heck, I wouldn't even know my name was Darius if it hadn't been written on the inside of my bag!"

"Amnesia?" Steven said quietly. Darius shrugged.

"Seems like it. I'm thinking right about now, you probably know more about me than I do." There was a pause but when Steven opened his mouth to reply, a shout echoed across the courtyard and Darius spotted Ed running towards them.

"Steven! Darius! I was hoping to introduce you two, I was just thinking on how well you two would get along!" Darius and Steven glanced at each other as Ed paused, noticing the scorch marks on the ground, as well as Kuraishi and Metagross hanging out behind the trainers.

"Have you two been battling?" The older man laughed. "You may be a good fighter Darius my boy, but I don't think you're quite ready to take on young Steven here! He's the champion you know!" Darius nodded.

"I knew that." He said simply.

"By the way!" Ed said, clapping his hands together. "Did you get my components to Stern safely? Did those strange men go after them again?" Darius nodded.

"Yeah, I got them to Stern just as the two men from a couple days ago tried to steal them again."

"The nerve of those scoundrels!" Ed growled. "Perhaps Steven could help you out?" He suggested, turning to face his son. "Darius here is investigating those men that tried to rob us a few days ago. I was just telling you about it actually." Steven nodded.

"I remember dad." He said with a sigh. "As for helping young Darius here, I'd rather get to know more about him first." Ed grinned and turned back to Darius.

"He's a suspicious lad, my Steven is." He said conspiratorially. Darius nodded.

"I don't blame him honestly. I've got seemingly no reason to be going after these people, and even I think I'm a tad suspicious myself." Ed nodded and laughed.

"Why don't you boys get to know each other a bit better then and then swap criminal stories, yeah?" He glanced at his watch. "Darn meetings." He growled before glancing at Darius again. "Stop by my office in about two hours. I'll make sure the security guard knows you're a friend of mine. I'll give you a reward for protecting those important components." Darius shook his head.

"No way Ed." Darius said firmly. "We already made a fair exchange. It wasn't a very big deal anyway." He said. Darius saw Steven's eyebrows rise up and wondered how much of that situation he'd heard from Gabby before Tyler got to them. Going by the look he was receiving however, the man knew it was certainly was some kind of big deal. At least, it was in his mind. Ed however just shrugged.

"But I still feel like information on that Team Aqua, in return for escorting those components, it really doesn't seem a fair trade." Ed sighed, but Darius grinned.

"I'm actually glad I delivered that component; it allowed me to make a wonderful friend and to find someone I'd been looking for anyway. If you hadn't sent me to Slateport I don't think I'd have ever found him." Ed nodded before glancing at his watch again.

"Well then, if there's anything you ever need feel free to stop by and ask. Or just swing by to say hi! I find you give fascinating conversation." Ed declared. "Now I must get going! Accursed meetings!" The elderly man sprinted off, leaving Darius and Steven alone again. The champion sighed and walked over to the boy.

"According to that chatty reporter, you and your friend were caught up in some kind of hostage situation. Is that not a big deal?" Darius shrugged.

"It didn't seem like it. And he didn't have to worry about that anyway. The component got to Captain Stern and those men didn't get their hands on it." Steven frowned and quietly recalled his Metagross, who'd been hovering in the background the whole time. "Walk." He said to Darius, beginning to stride out of the courtyard. Darius quickly whistled for Kuraishi and followed the man.

"So if you've got amnesia, why do you seem so set against Team Aqua?" Darius surveyed Steven quietly before sighing.

"I wasn't supposed to tell this to anyone, but I think that if I withheld anything from you, you'd arrest me, and for some reason that seems rather counter-productive." Steven raised an eyebrow and Darius reached over his shoulder, pulling his backpack off and shuffling through it as he walked, finally pulling out the letter from Looker. Zipping his bag back up and slinging it over a shoulder he offered the letter to Steven.

"That's pretty much the only connection I have to my past right now." That and the letter from his brother, but he wanted to keep that one personal. He wasn't going to tell Steven everything, just enough to keep the man from trying to arrest him. Steven's eyes flew over the letter, and Darius watched as his eyebrows lifted as he read through the letter. Finally, he offered the letter back to Darius.

"I'd asked around the city police about you." He said. "After overhearing what those two reporters were talking about. The police had said you seemed to be a nervous person, even though the civilian witnesses reported you as a very commanding and authoritative figure despite your apparent age. The two descriptions conflicted. In the presence of civilians you seemed to spread and were relaxed, but in the presence of police you withdrew and became quiet and unassuming. These are common traits of someone who is hiding from the police you understand." Steven explained. Darius shrugged.

"That is what I was doing." Darius said flatly.

"Don't do that anymore." Darius glanced back at Steven in surprise. The taller man was glaring at the boy. "I'm going to find out who this Special Agent Looker is. I'm going to find out if he really did send you on this mission. If you're lying, I will come arrest you. But if it turns out you're telling the truth, then I'll proceed to ignore you. Unless you actually get arrested for anything, I doubt you'll be recognized again." Darius nodded and then paused.

"You said you were going to talk with Mr. Looker?" Steven nodded. Darius frowned. "Could you not let him know I've got amnesia? Apart from you and Tyler, no one else knows about it. May might have figured out that something's wrong with my memory, but she hasn't brought it up yet." Steven raised an eyebrow. It seemed to be a habit of his. The universal 'explain' signal. "Something tells me that I might not be able to continue with this search for Team Aqua if Looker or anyone else knows about my amnesia." Darius said in response to the eyebrow. "And I'm curious about them myself. Well, that and they've kind of, pissed me off." Darius admitted. Steven nodded, quirking a small smile.

"I would however like to know how you got involved with my father." Steven said. Darius shrugged.

"First thing I remember is waking up in Petalburg forest." The boy said, stuffing his hands in his pockets as the two continued to stroll through the city. "One of your father's employees, a man named Jackson, he woke me up. After a short period of time a Team Aqua member tried to jump us and demanded that Jackson hand over some kind of research papers. I interfered and brought Jackson to Rustboro so he wouldn't get jumped again. After that is when I found that letter in my bag. I remembered the Team Aqua man from the forest and went to warn Jackson that the man might have had accomplices. When I arrived however," Darius shook his head.

"The components had already been stolen." Steven finished. "I spoke with the security guard that had been on duty." He said as way of explanation. "So in return, my father asked you to get them back?" Darius shook his head.

"Actually I went after the parts myself. I thought that if it was something Team Aqua was trying to do, and I was sent to stop them, it was a good course of action." Darius shrugged. "Jackson insisted on coming with me, and when I'd gotten the parts back, he's the one that dragged me to your father's office. I just wanted to get out of there, but it worked out in the end. I agreed to deliver the components to Captain Stern and Ed, your dad, agreed to call me up if Team Aqua popped up again." Steven nodded as Darius fell silent.

"Sounds like my father." Steven said simply.

"DARIUS!" The boy winced as he heard the unmistakable voice of May, screaming his name at the top of her lungs. He quickly spotted her running at him and he froze as she skidded to a halt directly in front of him. Steven too paused, watching the panicked girl with interest.

"Darius!" She yelled again. Then she paused.

"Yeah May?" He asked nervously, wondering what was wrong with the girl. Was it Team Aqua again?

"You're not unconscious." She said in a surprised tone.

"Was I supposed to be?" Darius asked in confusion.

"Well, last time Ayashii teleported to me all in a panic, I found you on the floor of our hotel room in a freaky nightmare-memory thing that I had to dump cold water on you to get you out of." Darius glanced down at the Ralts that was currently clinging to his pant leg, balancing herself on his shoe. Why would Ayashii have gone to get May like that? Oh yeah.

"It's alright May, it was, a misunderstanding. It's sorted out now. I think." He glanced at Steven and the man nodded.

"All sorted out." He agreed. May jumped back and yelped, finally noticing his presence.

"Steven! Hi! Again!" Steven nodded to her.

"May, weren't you going to challenge the gym?" Darius asked. May glanced at him.

"Hmm? Oh, the gym, right. I already beat it. Honestly, I thought the fight with Brawley was harder. Heck, Watson was harder to fight than that bookworm! Now I know how Brendan was able to get those two badges." Darius cocked an eyebrow and grinned at her.

"You beat Brawley?" Steven asked curiously. May nodded.

"Darius gave me some strategy tips after the battle and after a bit of practice I was able to beat him." Steven nodded, smiling slightly.

"I'd heard that Darius is, quote, 'A strategical mastermind of the highest calibre'." May grinned and punched the boy in the arm.

"Told you." She smirked.

"Whoever said that is exaggerating." Darius frowned. "I'm not a mastermind." Steven laughed at this.

"Oh contraire." He said. "And I quote, again," he pulled out his PokeNav, poked the screen a few times and proceeded to read, "'He's a genius who's strategies leave the opponent sitting on their ass wondering what the hell just happened'." May burst out laughing and Darius cocked an eyebrow at the man.

"You made that up." He hissed at the man. In reply, Steven turned the PokeNav screen so Darius could read it.

"A friend of yours said that when the police were trying to figure out where you'd gone into hiding." He whispered so May didn't hear him. "Said they'd never find you if you didn't want to be found." Steven quickly leaned back and tucked his PokeNav back into his pocket as May regained her breath. Darius just shook his head.

"Really Darius, you've gotta challenge my dad when we go back." The girl said. Darius sighed and shook his head again.

"May, even if I am some kind of strategical genius, Norman is still way stronger than me. Just as brute strength isn't the only key to a battle, you can't always win on strategy alone. Your dad has both." May crossed her arms and huffed.

"Well I'm going to beat him. I'll challenge him tomorrow. I've got three badges now afterall." She smirked, but Steven was wearing a thoughtful expression.

"Norman, as in the gym leader of Petalburg?" He asked curiously. May nodded vigorously. Steven 'hmm'-ed and shook his head. "From what Darius said, I understand you're his daughter, but I think you're underestimating him. I'd say go for at least one more badge before challenging him." May just snorted.

"I think Steven's right May." Darius said. The girl stuck her tongue out at him.

"How about a deal?" She suggested suddenly. "I'll agree to take on one more gym, and then when I go to challenge my dad, you'll challenge him too!" Darius blinked several times.

"How is that a deal?" He frowned. May stuck out her tongue.

"C'mon! At least try!" Darius shook his head.

"If I were you, I wouldn't underestimate myself so much." Steven said sagely. In a slightly lower voice, only for Darius, he whispered, "You don't know what you're capable of." Darius shrugged.

"I'm capable of insanity." He said with a wry grin. Steven cocked an eyebrow but May laughed, taking the comment to mean he agreed to her terms.

"Where's the next gym?" The girl demanded, punching a fist into the air. Steven hummed again.

"You mentioned fighting both Brawley and Watson, so I'd guess the next leader to fight would be Flannery in Lavaridge. After seeing your team against Brawley however, I doubt you'll have any trouble with her." Steven shrugged. "As for your goal to become the youngest gym leader, Flannery currently holds that title in Hoenn, and she's the 2nd youngest gym leader in the Pokemon Association, following Maylene from Sinnoh. Maylene is just 15, but Flannery is 19." May gaped at Steven.

"There's a gym leader out there that's 15?" She demanded. "I'm 16, so she's even younger than me!"

"Well, she became a gym leader almost two years ago, so she was actually a gym leader at 13. She inherited the gym from her father in fact." May's mouth fell open wider.

"She was a gym leader at age 13?!" Darius couldn't help but laugh at the look on May's face. In retaliation the girl whapped him upside the head, causing the boy to yelp.

* * *

**AN: There it is! Steven seemed a bit OOC from what I was imagining, but I think this came out pretty well! Heh, you guys are going to hate me for the next chapter (maybe). **

**Again, sorry I was in a funk, as I said, life. Hormones are punching me in the stomach, and with the semester almost over, I'm starting to get worried as our professor still hasn't given us _any_ grades back, so I have _no _idea if I'm going to pass the class or not. Not to mention, I discovered just yesterday that one of my classmates stole one of my drafting sketches, which means I have to redo the entire project... Too bad I don't know which one did it... **

**And for Mouse's (can I call you Mouse?) questions, when I created Darius in another story that never really went anywhere, he was loosely based on Lucas, but then he kept making appearances in other little drabbles until finally he became a completely different character :). My friend commented once that when I get really hyper, I start talking in a British accent, which is strange as I've never even been out of the country~ And sorry about the gym battle scenes, I've never really been too good at them. I'll try to give them more detail in the future~**

**I'll post the next chapter either tomorrow or later on today if Lab doesn't wipe me out. _Jamatane, minna-san~ _/AN**


	10. Team Magma Finally Shows Up

**AN: Umm, I lied. Sorry. Wednesday's lab was actually exhausting, and Thursday after classes I helped out our local Habitat for Humanity by tying candy canes to little sheets of paper for hours on end in preparation for the Christmas parade. Literally, we were there for hours. Anyway, Friday was a work day, and I was on the move the entire time. I hate it when I drive somewhere, and then when I get back, my boss tells me 'Oh yeah, you need to go back to the place you just left because I forgot something'. RAWR! Plan ahead for once woman! ...Eh, it's a paycheck, so whatever I guess. Saturday I helped out at the build site with Habitat and then promptly went out to help them in their parade. Then Sunday I had my second-to-last parade with my old high-school's colour guard. That was kind of depressing, but it was ruined by the fact that I was sick of hearing Jingle Bells over and over again. Right after that one of my friends threw a surprise 'beat each other senseless in a game of Smash Brothers Brawl' party that went until 9, so that was the end of Sunday. Monday was another work day similar to Friday, but it also involved a wreath, a Christmas tree, and a lot more swearing than usual. T_T)) And so, that brings me to, well, today. Sorry about that everyone. At least I didn't leave you with too much of an evil cliffhanger! *flees from small angry mob* *starts wondering if there are even enough readers to form an angry mob* *gets depressed***

* * *

10. In Which Team Magma Finally Shows Up and Catastrophe Strikes

* * *

Darius stood staring into the desert. Or rather, staring at the wall of flying sand that hid the desert from sight. While Darius was standing several feet away from the wall, May was partially in it, howling about how stupid sand was. Darius sighed and sat down on a nearby rock, watching May struggle. He'd insisted that they find another way around the desert, but so far, May was having none of it.

"I demand that you cease your incessant flying!" May shouted loud enough for even Darius to hear. He couldn't help but chuckle. After he and Steven had sorted themselves out the day before, Steven told May that to get to Lavaridge they'd have to go back through Mauville and then head north from there. There would be a desert and nearby was the lift to get to the top of the volcano, and also Lavaridge. Thus Darius and May had gone back through the Rusturf tunnel, back through Veranturf, spent the night at the same hotel in Mauville, and then headed north at sunrise. They'd hit the wall of sand about 2 hours after setting out, and while May challenged the sand, Darius began searching for another path. He believed he'd found it, but he had to wait until May was done with the desert before he could communicate to her that there was another path. Finally however the girl gave up her argument with Nature and joined Darius in sitting on the ground.

"Stupid desert." She grumbled. Darius simply said 'mmm'. "How are we supposed to get up to Lavaridge now?" She grouched.

"I was studying the PokeNav while you were attacking the desert." Darius said, leaning away from May's pinching attack. "It looks like there should be another path around here that loops around the desert." The boy stood up and May quickly followed suit, spitting some sand out of her mouth.

"I'm going to have the taste of sand in my mouth for weeks." She complained. Darius couldn't help but laugh at her.

"That's Nature's way of saying she doesn't like being yelled at." May huffed and stuck her tongue out at the boy before spitting again. They only had to walk for half an hour before the lift came into view. May shouted happily, delighted at the idea of not having to climb the mountain herself. She quickly took off, running to the base of the mountain while Darius trailed along at a slower pace, eyeing the lift suspiciously. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't even moving. As he approached, the lift continued to be stationary. Darius could feel the hair on the back of his neck rising as he glanced back down at the road to see May furiously waving him over. The boy quickened his pace to join her. The girl was scowling.

"Is the lift out of order?" Darius asked curiously. May shook her head.

"Not that I know of. Come here and look at this." She hurried up the stairs that led to the lift station and stopped, crouching on the top steps. Darius hurriedly joined her. She nodded quietly towards the doors to the station and Darius slowly peeked above the stairs, eyes instantly locking on the source of the trouble. Two men in red capes were sitting in the doorway, playing some kind of card game. A Mightyena and a Poochyena were curled up next to the men, watching the surroundings. Darius bent back down out of sight and glanced at May.

"I tried to get past them." The girl whispered. "But they said the lift was closed. I demanded to know why and they just said it is. Then that Mightyena started growling and I had to back off. Stupid men." Darius shook his head.

"Let's see if we can sneak a bit closer, around through the trees. It looked like they were talking, we might be able to overhear something." May hesitated, obviously wanting to simply run at the men and make them move, but Darius began shuffling off the stairs and onto the steep rocky hillside and May carefully followed after. They shuffled for five minutes before Darius held up a hand to signal to May before peeking over the edge again. The men were still playing their card game and hadn't noticed the two sneaking children.

"I still don't know why we had to guard the stupid lift while everyone else got to go off to Fallabor." One of them was grumbling.

"It's because Maxie doesn't want anybody snooping around the volcano and possibly getting in the way." The other replied. "Especially none of those damn guys from Team Aqua."

"I heard they tried to steal some crap from some ocean scientist a few days ago. They got beat up though."

"Serves those damn idiots right. Disrespecting our beautiful land like that."

"Why did everyone else go to Fallabor anyway?"

"Weren't you listening when Maxie told us?"

"I forgot!"

"Tch. They had to get some meteorite from those caves near the town to operate the machine. How else do you think we'd wake it? Tickle it with feathers while dancing and chanting?"

"No! I just don't understand what a meteorite has to do with waking-" The man who had been talking abruptly stopped and Darius quickly grabbed the back of May's shirt and pulled her out of sight. He began scurrying down the cliff as quietly as possible with May hot on his heels.

"What?" The other man asked. Darius heard feet crunching and quickly rolled behind a bush, pulling May with him. They both lay like that, holding their breaths. The footsteps stopped at the top of the cliff and the second pair soon joined them. "What is it?" The man asked again.

"I thought I saw something." The one who had been talking said. "Guess I'm just seeing things."

"I didn't see anything." There was another pause before the footsteps retreated back to the doorway they had just vacated. Darius and May let out their breaths at the same time. Darius glanced at May and saw her frowning.

"Those guys didn't look like the men that attacked us in Slateport." She whispered. Darius shook his head. He began climbing back towards the stairs and May carefully began following him.

"I think they're from a rivalling group called Team Magma." He whispered over his shoulder. "Anyway, it sounds like they've got something going on at Fallabor, and since we can't get up to Lavaridge with them blocking the way,"

"We'll have to go to Fallabor and mess up whatever they're doing so they get out." May finished in a triumphant whisper. "But how do we get to Fallabor?" They arrived back at the stairs and Darius gave May a grin.

"Stay her for a sec." He said before running up the stairs. He heard May stifle a protest but he didn't turn. The two members of Team Magma looked up as he approached and the Mightyena rose to it's feet, growling menacingly. Darius ignored it.

"The lift's broken brat, there's no going up." One of the men said, frowning. The other was rolling his eyes.

"Oh no, I don't want to go up." Darius said in a chipper and friendly manner, smiling at the men. "You see, I'm trying to visit my uncle in Fallabor town, but he didn't give me very good directions on how to get there. He said north of Mauville, past Lavaridge. But there seems to be a desert in my way. Do either of you know a way around?" The two men glared at him suspiciously before one of them sighed.

"Follow me brat, I'll show you the way." He and his companion nodded to each other and the man began leading Darius away from the lift. As they walked past the stairs Darius had come up, the boy spotted May frowning at him, still hiding. The man hadn't seen her. Darius quietly motioned to her to follow, but stay hidden. She nodded and began scrambling along the side of the cliff. Darius deliberately slowed his pace and his guide turned back to him with a glare.

"Hurry up." The man growled. Darius pasted a sheepish grin on his face and laughed.

"Sorry! I just love the view out here. It's really amazing." The man looked around and shrugged.

"I guess. You still gotta hurry up though, I don't have all day." Darius nodded and began following the man again, still walking slower than before, but just fast enough so as to not annoy the man again. He kept an eye on May who was stealthily following, making sure she was able to keep up. Finally the man stopped in front of the mouth of a cave. "That tunnel," he said, "will put you just north of the desert. Walk east until you find the road, and then follow the road north, and then west. You'll get to Fallabor that way. Now shoo." Darius nodded and thanked the man, still smiling and entered the tunnel. He struggled not to gasp at the heat. He was positive now that wherever he'd come from originally, it was not a volcano. The man watched him go in before finally turning and returning to his comrade. Darius peeked out the tunnel and waved to May, who quickly ran over to join him. Upon entering the tunnel she gasped.

"What is with this heat?" She demanded. Darius shrugged, wiping his brow with his forearm.

"This tunnel goes through the edge of the volcano." He said. "The magma is radiating such heat that this tunnel ends up this temperature." May nodded and then crossed her arms.

"Nice acting skills by the way. I hadn't thought of making those idiots show me the way. But why did _I_ have to hide?" Darius shrugged and began walking into the tunnel. May huffed and began following him.

"You'd already approached them about trying to go up, so they might have been more suspicious if you'd suddenly come back and asked how to get to Fallabor." May continued to frown before simply shrugging.

"Whatever." Suddenly she took off running, dashing past Darius with a wicked grin on her face. "Race you to the end of the tunnel!" She shouted over her shoulder. Darius huffed and promptly took off after her, laughing as he slowly began to catch up to the girl.

* * *

Darius frowned as he paused yet again to brush the ash off his arms where it was building up very quickly. May was doing the same while snorting in annoyance.

"Who in their right minds would build a town in this mess?" She demanded, stomping forward once more, leaving deep footprints in the ash-covered grass. Darius smiled and shook his head, trailing after her. Darius had to admit though, with the constant ash-cloud hovering over the area, it really was a dreary place. Because of the sun being blocked however, it was even cooler Mauville, which was about the same distance from the volcano. The temperature was closer to Dewford, with the sea wind bringing in the cold air off the ocean.

May stomped into the town, sending up little ash-clouds with each step and ignoring the few people that were outside that waved to the travellers. As May passed by them Darius waved back rather apologetically. He understood May's determination to get to the cave that Team Magma had gathered in, but Darius was more worried about a little detail May seemed to have missed. He hesitated before wandering off towards one of the townspeople. The young woman looked up as he approached and smiled warmly.

"Welcome to Fallabor stranger. You looking for something?" She greeted, shifting the large stack of papers that rested in her arms so as to shake Darius's hand in greeting. Darius nodded.

"Thank you. I actually have a few questions if you don't mind answering them."

"Shoot stranger." She said with a laugh.

"Have you seen any strange people around town lately? They'd probably be wearing red cloaks of some kind." The woman nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, them people've been hanging around the professor's place a lot lately. They give me the creeps but they's funding his research so whatever, yeah?" Darius nodded.

"What kind of research does this professor do?" He asked casually.

"Who, Cosmo? Why he's studying meteorites and the such. That's why we moved the lab up here- to get closer to them Meteor Falls."

"Meteor Falls?"

"Yeah, they be just west and south of here. Long time ago a big old meteor shot down and smashed right there, so there be a bunch of little shards just hanging 'round. Come 'ta think of it, the prof and several of them red-cloaks just went down that way to go dig up this giant chunk they just found." Darius nodded, frowning.

"Thanks ma'am." He quickly ran to catch up to May. He found her on the western edge of the town, pacing through the ash and grumbling to herself. She paused when she spotted the boy however.

"Where've you been?" She demanded. "I just turned around and you were gone!"

"Sorry about that May." Darius apologized quickly. "But I just asked around a bit; those members of Team Magma have been funding a professor's research of meteorites in this town for a while now. According to his assistant, those men just came up this way not to long ago and went out to Meteor Falls with Professor Cosmo."

"Yeah?" May said curiously. "And where are these falls anyway?"

"This direction." Darius said, quickly walking past May and heading west. The two followed the road at a brisk pace before the road gave way to a rocky path that wound around the cliffs. The only marginally slowed, determined to find out what Team Magma was up to.

* * *

Darius couldn't help but stop and stare in awe at the cave he'd just entered. It was beautiful. A faint mist hovered in the air, creating an ethereal feeling, and the smooth stalagmites and stalactites made it look like he'd just stepped through a portal onto a different plant. He heard May gasp softly from behind him. Echoes of a waterfall reached the boy's ears and he couldn't help but smile. He felt comfortable in the cave. It was a strange feeling. Sighing, Darius shook off the nostalgic feelings and began looking for traces of Team Magma's presence. He heard May shuffle behind him and knew she was doing the same.

"I didn't think there were places like this." She breathed, keeping her voice low. Darius simply nodded. He knew what she meant. "It's just so magical, it's the kind of place you only really see in pictures."

"Even the pictures are real places." Darius offered.

"I know, but the places in the pictures, they're places that seem impossible to reach, and yet, here's one just hanging out a few days travel from home." Darius nodded in understanding. May sighed. "Anyway, let's get looking for these goons. If they're as violent as the ones you pissed off then I'm worried about that professor." Darius nodded again and the two quickly set off deeper into the cave. Not long after they came upon the waterfall. Water poured down from a cliff high above the children's heads and crashed on the rocks far below, sending up a chilly white spray. From there the water ran fast and deep in a river that had carved a deep gorge in the middle of the cave. A rickety-looking wooden bridge spanned the gap, and on the other side of the bridge Darius finally spotted their target. There were five men all wearing the same outfit that the two they'd met earlier were wearing. There was also a brawny man with shaggy black hair who was dressed slightly differently from the others but was still wearing the trademark cloak and a woman fitting almost the same description. She wore a red belly shirt and a black miniskirt, and her cloak was much shorter than all the others. She and the brawny man were obviously the ones in charge of the others. Darius could see that they were talking, but he couldn't hear them over the roar of the water. As he continued to watch, a man in a white lab coat clambered out of a large hole, one arm wrapped protectively around a strange looking rock. Once the man was out of the hole the Team Magma lackeys surrounded him. They began to argue. Darius guessed by the looks of it that the men wanted the meteorite and the scientist wasn't handing it over. All five men released their Pokemon and Darius heard May gasp.

"They're going to attack him!" May yelped. Darius's mind was already whirring.

"May, wait here- I'll distract them!" The boy jumped to his feet and began running across the bridge. As soon as one of the men spotted him they yelled and pointed and the brawny man quickly moved to block Darius's path.

"Where do you think you're going in such a rush boy?" The man sneered.

"I'm here to stop your men from attacking the professor." Darius informed the man.

"Be careful Mitch." The woman said, popping some bubblegum. "Don't underestimate the boy."

"Whatever you say Marge." The man laughed. Faster than Darius thought the man could move he whipped out a pokeball and released a Torkal. "If he's a problem, we'll just make him go away! Torkal, Rock Slide!" Darius's mind flew as the fire-type growled. His head whipped around as he heard a deep echoing rumble. He heard May yelling and he felt the bridge shake as she began running towards him. His mind clicked in understanding and he spun around to face her, feeling fear rising in his chest.

"Get back May!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. At his shout she backed off the bridge in surprise, just at the rocks crashed down, destroying the bridge and sending it, and Darius, into the river below.

* * *

**AN: Um, buwahaha! Looking back (this chappy's been written for a while) it was kinda really short and anti-climatic, but still, ending deserves a little author's buwahaha methinks. Um, hang on. Methinks. Buwahaha. Interesting... FF's doc manager doesn't mark 'methinks' as misspelled. That means... it's a real word?! O.O Learn something new every day! Anyway, I have to go calculate a cut roof for a hip roof with multiple dormers now... I hate homework... J_amatane, minna-san!_**


	11. May Goes Into A Blind Fury

**AN: First of all, I'm going to apologize for not updating for so long. I really have no excuse. On the plus side, even though I haven't been updating, I have been writing, so I have a very large backlog of chapters for all you lovely people. Anyway, yeah. Sorry for leaving you with that evil cliffhanger. Don't worry, you'll get to see what happened soon!**

**Also, it's been a while since you probably read the last chapter, so you might want to go back for a refresher. If you don't want to go back, then in the last chapter, May and Darius went to track down Team Magma, finding them in Meteor Falls. Darius stepped in to defend Professor Cosmo from the Magma grunts, and Mitch (commander of Team Magma) destroyed the bridge Darius was standing on, sending the boy into the river below.**

**Read on my wonderfully patient readers! I'll be updating sporadically throughout the day today, so keep an eye out! /AN**

* * *

11. In Which May Goes into a Blind Fury and Then Tries to Come Up With a Plan

* * *

May stared in silence down at the river, speechless. The roaring waterfall couldn't drown out the sound of Mitch's laughter however. As May continued to stare down at the river and Darius continued to be out of sight, she felt her fists clench.

"That was overkill." The woman said, popping another bubble.

"The brat was asking for it." Mitch said, still laughing. He spotted May standing on the other side of the gorge and waved.

"I'm sorry girly, was that your boyfriend?" He asked mockingly. May didn't respond, still staring into the river. "You can join him if you want." Mitch called over to her. Slowly she looked up at the man.

"That was low." May muttered quietly. The man cocked his head and cupped a hand around his ear.

"What was that girly?" He called. "I didn't quite catch that!"

"Leave her be Mitch." Marge said cautiously.

"I said," May repeated, raising her voice, "that was low!" She whipped out her pokeballs, releasing Taillow and Mudkip. Then she glanced down at the gorge again, measuring.

"What do you think you're going to do way over there girly?" Mitch taunted, laughing. May took several steps back, calling to Taillow. Abruptly she ran, running to the edge of the gorge and leaping over the edge with all her might. Taillow caught the back of her shirt and flapped desperately, struggling to support her enough to get her across the gorge.

She heard the Magma grunts yelling, but her eyes were fixed on Mitch. The man had a stunned look on his face and he took several steps back as May landed in front of him. Taillow quickly flew back and grabbed Mudkip, flying him across as well.

"You're going to pay for that." May said lowly, still glaring at Mitch. "Darius was just trying to protect the professor from you scumbags." She continued. Behind Mitch, the aforementioned professor made a small noise, a look of terror on his face. May ignored him however, still glaring at Mitch. On the man's other side Marge stood up and sighed. One of the lackeys handed her the stolen meteorite.

"Mitch, I'll leave you to clean up after yourself. I'm off to rejoin Maxie." She called forth a Swellow which grabbed her by her shoulders and lifted her above everyone's heads.

"Don't think you can get away that easily!" May yelled. Taillow instantly flew after the woman, but Mitch's Torkal blocked the way with a Flamethrower.

"You're not going anywhere little miss." Mitch sneered. The lackeys too were quickly clearing out. Soon it was just May and Mitch. May clenched her fists and grinned a feral grin, causing Mitch to hesitate and take a step away from the girl.

"I'll warn you now mister, you've made a grave mistake, and I will not let you forget it." She snarled. Mudkip and Taillow were also bristling, and as they advanced on the man and his Pokemon, Mudkip began to glow. May glanced at her Pokemon, briefly distracted, as Mudkip's body began to morph and the Pokemon evolved. When the light faded, Mudkip was several times larger than before, and still just as angry. May turned her attention back to Mitch, her grin wider than before.

"Sucks to be you." She said before lunging at him, screeching in anger.

* * *

Gabby pulled her PokeNav out of her bag to check who was calling her. Lifting an eyebrow, she waved to Tyler and quickly walked away from the interview. Tyler began apologizing to the trainer they'd picked to interview while Gabby answered the call.

"What's up May?" Gabby chirped happily. "You meet up with Steven again? Or has Darius agreed to let us make a documentary on you two?" Gabby paused as she heard a sniffling.

"Gabby?" The girl asked in a broken voice. Gabby froze at her words.

"May? What's wrong?" Gabby heard Tyler come up behind her and she motioned to him to stay quiet. "May?" She asked again.

"I can't find him." May said quietly. "I've looked and looked; I've been looking for three hours." Gabby frowned.

"Looking for who? Darius?"

"Yeah. I went to look for him after the police pulled me off of that bastard, and they've been helping me to look for him, but he's not here. I can't find him Gabby." Gabby hesitated. Tyler lifted an eyebrow at her but she shook her head.

"May, where are you?" She asked.

"Just south of Meteor Falls I think. Near Rustboro I guess."

"Okay May, Tyler and I are going to meet you there. Okay?" Tyler made a face at her but Gabby flapped her hand at him. The man sighed and went back into the Battle Tent to apologize again to the trainer they'd been interviewing. When Gabby followed him back in, tucking her PokeNav back into her bag, Tyler scowled at her.

"What in the world is wrong Gabby?" the cameraman scowled.

"I barely know." Gabby replied. "May was near incomprehensible. She said something about some 'bastard' and the police being involved and she can't find Darius. Thus, we must find out what is going on. Tyler froze in the act of putting his trusty camera in its case. He stared at his fellow reporter.

"Darius has gone missing?" He asked. Gabby nodded.

"May says she and the police have been looking for him for over three hours. I'm worried Tyler." Tyler nodded, quickly tucking the camera into the bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

"We'd better get moving then." He said, not quite running out the door.

* * *

"May?" The girl looked up from her lap at the sound of Gabby's voice an hour after she called the woman. She looked a little lost. One of the police officers approached Tyler while Gabby went to talk to the girl.

"Are you the friends she called?" The officer asked. Tyler nodded.

"What happened?" The reporter demanded. The officer shook his head.

"We received two calls about this." The officer said. "The first call was from Professor Cosmo's assistant about 5 hours ago. She said some suspicious people had brought the professor to Meteor Falls earlier in the day, but she hadn't thought much of it until a boy came into town and started asking if she'd seen any suspicious people. There wasn't enough information there for us to work with until about 4 hours ago when we received a call from the professor himself saying he'd been robbed and that two children had come to help him, but one of them may have been severely injured.

"When we arrived we found that girl pinning this huge man against a wall, screeching. I had some officers work on calming her down and some other officers take the man away. Professor Cosmo approached me after and told me that the other child had been standing on the bridge when the man's Pokemon caused a rock slide which knocked out the supports. The whole thing crashed into the river below." Tyler sucked in a breath and the officer sighed, adjusting his cap. "That bridge is a good 20 feet above the river, and the water's rough in that area." He shook his head. "After that fall, I'd say it doesn't look good." Tyler nodded, frowning. The officer sighed and walked away while Tyler joined Gabby and May. His partner was holding the girl's hands in her own, and May was just staring off into space, a sad frown on her face. The girl glanced at him however when he approached.

"Darius is insane and tough." She said quietly. Tyler nodded.

"He is."

"When he asked you about that Pokemon, whatever it was, he was the boy you mentioned, wasn't he?" Tyler paused before shrugging.

"Most likely." Gabby frowned at him but he didn't elaborate. He hadn't told Gabby about May's call that time. Now didn't seem like a good time either.

"If he can piss off a deity and live to declare himself insane, then a silly little river isn't going to do anything to him." May said, looking down at her knees. Tyler didn't respond. The comment was more for herself than for Tyler. The man nodded to Gabby and left the girls alone. He walked down the streets of Rustboro until he was positive there was no one near. He pulled out his PokeNav and stared at it, frowning. He desperately wanted to call Saturn and tell his friend about what had happened to the man's little brother, but he kept remembering Darius's determination to continue going after the criminals. He shook his head and sighed before looking up at the sky.

"I'll call if they find him." Tyler promised himself. He sighed again.

"Excuse me!" A voice called. Tyler glanced around to find that he suddenly was no longer alone. A young man was waving vigorously at him, a huge grin on his face as he walked his bicycle down the road. "Have you seen Steven Stone?" The boy asked. Tyler frowned and shook his head. The boy snapped his fingers. "Darn! I was hoping to catch him before he left town!"

"What makes you think he's here?" Tyler asked.

"My girlfriend told me!" He declared happily, beaming at the word girlfriend. Tyler frowned. He had forgotten that he'd nudged Steven to Rustboro. He was sure the man would have left beforehand, but if he was still in the area and heard about what had happened, that could severely complicate things. While Tyler was thinking the boy was sighing.

"I wonder if my girlfriend knows where he's gone now? I'd so like to meet him." The boy said dreamily. By the tone of his voice though Tyler guessed he'd enjoy getting the location of the champion from said girlfriend more than meeting the champion himself.

"So help me Brendan, if you call me your girlfriend one more time I will break your face." A familiar voice growled. Tyler turned to see May and Gabby approaching. The boy winced and held up his hands.

"Okay, okay, still just friends then." Brendan said in a placating tone.

"Don't push it. I will hurt you." The girl growled and the boy winced, laughing nervously. He stopped when he saw the blunt glare she shot him. "Why are you here anyway? Stalking me now?" She demanded. Brendan shook his head quickly.

"Remember? Your friend Darius said that Steven Stone was going to Rustboro. I was hoping to meet him. I told you that, remember?" Brendan's head drooped even as May's head shot up.

"Steven!" She said triumphantly. "Steven can help us look I bet! He'd be able to find Darius, I'm sure!" Tyler gulped. Yeah, Steven would find Darius, and then probably arrest the boy too. May however was jumping to her feet, a grin beginning to brighten her face. "Come on!" She said. "Let's go find him!" She ran off, Gabby following close behind shouting encouragements, leaving Tyler frozen.

* * *

**AN: If you're wondering why Tyler was worried about Steven, he doesn't know that Steven and Darius have already cleared up their 'misunderstanding'. Heh. Ahh, lack of communication, you make so much fun dialogue~ /AN**


	12. Darius is Watched Over

**AN: Darius lives! You don't really think I'd kill him off, do you? Heheh. Anyway, here's another chappy in my massive update. **

**Also, if you think May over-reacted last chapter, here's my explaination. She'd spent practically her whole life in Littleroot, so she's lived a pretty sheltered life, despite her attitude. Darius has also taken the place of practically her best friend, and she was under the impression he'd died. Due to her personality, immediate default was anger, and then 'my best friend is probably dead now' would sink in later. /AN**

* * *

The first time Darius swam back to consciousness, he was aware of being very, very cold and very, very wet. His head felt like it had been cracked in two. He was vaguely aware of an unfamiliar voice speaking, but consciousness escaped him and he fell back into the darkness. The second time he awoke he was heavily bundled, yet he still shivered violently in the cold. He tried to open his eyes, but the painful light quickly changed his mind. He let slip a small moan of pain and instantly regretted it as his raw throat throbbed. What felt like a cup pressed against his mouth and he sipped what tasted like water to soothe his throat before falling back asleep.

* * *

Lynette frowned as the boy whimpered and fell slack again. She pressed the back of her hand against his clammy forehead and sighed. It had been days since she'd spotted the boy's body floating down the river and she'd bundled him off to her house. Lynette wondered who he was. It was one of the few times she wished that she had a phone; not that she had anyone to call. She supposed she could call the police, or possibly her sister Bridgett. The boy had a nasty wound on his head and he hadn't woken up fully yet, but she was positive there had to be someone who would have missed him.

"Swablu, can you please fetch a cloth from the sink?" She asked of the Pokemon that perched on the headboard under which the boy slept. The Pokemon chirped and flapped into the kitchen. The boy's own two Pokemon were curled up under the blanket with him, occasionally making small, worried noises. Lynette had been quite surprised when the two Pokemon released themselves from their balls. It took a lot of strength for a Pokemon to break out of their Pokeballs, and Lynette couldn't imagine how strong the boy's Pokemon were. She sighed and went to her desk where she'd deposited the contents of the boy's backpack. She was proud of the job she'd done in restoring the letters that had been in the bag. She'd read through them, but she decided to reserve judgement. He seemed so young, though that may have been due to his unconsciousness. Lynette had read many, many books, and she knew that when the young misunderstood criminal fell asleep their childish innocence shone through. Either that or she just read too many romances. The woman couldn't hold back a blush at the thought.

"It's exactly like one of my books." She informed Seedot, who was perched on the desk next to the boy's backpack. "The heroine finds the injured hero in the water, and she nurses him back to health, and then they fall in love and live happily ever after." She sighed again. "It's so romantic, right?" Seedot gave her a flat look and she pouted. "A girl can dream." She huffed. She sighed again, wandering back over to the bed where the boy was sleeping.

"It never happens like it does in the books though, does it?" She asked him, sitting down in the chair she'd left by the bedside. She knew he wouldn't respond, but that didn't matter. She laughed. She talked to herself anyway, what difference was it if she was talking to someone who was simply unconscious? "I'm simply a batty old lady." She whispered conspiratorially to him. "I'm just in denial." She laughed again and reached for her book, continuing her vigil over the sleeping boy.

* * *

It had been three days since Darius fell into the river and vanished. Three whole days. May just couldn't believe it. She'd barely known him after all. Perhaps it was because she'd spent five whole days simply travelling the region with him. Perhaps it was that she'd admired his mission of taking down not only Team Aqua, but also Team Magma, all by himself. Perhaps it was that he'd helped her so much already to change her strategy. But all of that paled in comparison to his face just before the bridge collapsed. She'd seen fear in his eyes. But not fear for himself. No, she'd seen the fear as he yelled to her to get off the bridge. He hadn't had a care about himself, but he'd been so scared of someone else getting hurt. Of her getting hurt. May sighed and dropped her head in her chin. It had been three days since Darius had disappeared, and the police finally called off the search. When May tried to strangle one of them, Tyler quickly intervened and pulled her aside.

"May." Tyler had said, gripping the girl's shoulders tightly. "The police have searched the entire river. He wasn't in the water and he wasn't on the shore. That means at some point someone must have found him and pulled him out. If they've done that, that means he's safe for now. All we can do now is wait until either he or his rescuer step forward."

May had nodded. In the back of her head, she understood, but she still couldn't help but feel like she owed it to Darius to search for him. Before Mauville, she'd seen the boy as a powerful enigma, one that simply existed and could never waver. Until she saw that he was human, just as she was. That even though he could handle the outside world fine, it was the world inside his head that was far more dangerous. After that time, she'd made sure to keep an eye on him. There was a knock at the hotel room door and May glanced at the portal.

"May?" It was Tyler. That was another mystery. Gabby had gone back to the TV Station the day before, but Tyler had stayed. He'd been acting strangely too, often staring at his PokeNav with a frown. May remembered Darius and Tyler talking about Darius's brother, so she assumed the man was debating on whether or not to call him. The cameraman poked his head into the room she'd rented at the Trainer Inn, waving to her. She gave him a nod and Tyler entered her room and sat on the mattress next to her.

"He's fine." Tyler said matter-of-factly. May shot him a glare.

"That's optimistic." She said sourly. The police had given her the run-down, and she knew how bleak the outlook was. Tyler sighed.

"Listen May, earlier, you asked if Darius was the boy I mentioned that was found on Mount Coronet in Sinnoh." May glanced at the man sharply. Tyler was staring out the window, not looking at her.

"You said he might have been." May prompted. Tyler nodded.

"I know for a fact that he was the same person." The reporter said with a sigh. "He told his brother what happened, and Saturn told me. A terrible man by the name of Cyrus was, in essence, trying to destroy the world." May snorted.

"Why in the world did he want to do that?" She demanded. Tyler shrugged.

"According to Saturn, he was trying to use Dialga and Palkia, the two Pokemon I mentioned earlier, to create a whole new world. A perfect world with no imperfections or flaws." May lifted an eyebrow.

"And in the process he wanted this world gone?" Tyler nodded and the girl snorted again.

"Darius and several others tried desperately to prevent Cyrus from capturing Dialga and Palkia. However, they failed. No one could stop him once he'd harnessed the powers of both Dialga and Palkia. Darius knew that. So he did something that most people would never think of, never even dare to consider."

"He pissed off that Girantina." May supplied. Tyler nodded.

"Over one hundred years ago Girantina was hunted down by the humans because he was seen as a terrible creature that brought destruction though the twisting of time and space. They tried to kill him, and they very nearly succeeded. He fled into a dimension that was parallel to this one; its shadow, if you will. Since then Girantina has held a deep hatred of the human race. Darius knew of this and he made use of Girantina's hatred and the fact that Cyrus's plan would directly threaten Girantina and the dimension he'd made into his home."

"So Girantina tried to kill Darius and then went after this Cyrus guy? Even though Darius was trying to help him?" May growled, but Tyler shook his head.

"If Girantina had wanted to kill Darius, he would have." The reporter said. "I think that Girantina actually spared Darius as a way of thanking him." May frowned and shook her head.

"Still," Then she looked at Tyler. "Why are you telling me all of this anyway?"

"Because I think you're underestimating Darius. He's taken worse hits than falling off a silly little cliff, and I'm sure if you just stand back up he'll show up sooner or later with some kind of silly grin on his face and wondering why you're all flustered." May cocked an eyebrow at Tyler's prediction and the man laughed. "At least, that's what his brother would do. But I'm sure Darius will still find a way to pop up when you least expect him. All you have to do is stop expecting." May frowned and nodded.

"My mother used to swear by that logic." She muttered. "She always said if you stop looking for something, you'll find it, and if you're waiting for something to happen, start doing something else and it will happen faster. I never understood it." Tyler laughed at her scowl.

"It puts things in perspective." He offered.

"So you're telling me to get back on my feet and do something, and Darius will just walk out from behind some random tree and grin at me?" Tyler shrugged and May sighed.

"Fine. I guess I'll just go to Lavaridge and beat that gym leader, and while I'm at it I'll do Darius's job too and find out what those Team Magma thugs were doing with that meteorite. Besides, since the police won't let me near that bastard Mitch, I'm going to have to hunt down that stupid-ass-bubble-blowing-woman." She spit out the last part so harshly that even Tyler flinched back.

* * *

**AN: 'Nother chappy. Not much to be said down here I suppose. Although! Even though I'm posting a whole bunch of chapters today, can you please still review each one as you go? Just so I can get some input? Pretty please? /AN**


	13. Darius Wakes Up Again

**Fans of the PokeSpe manga might recognize the battle location XD I couldn't help it, for some reason I don't like having gym battles, in the gym. :/ Whatever. This one's really long-ish 4K+ words! To make up for really short chapters! Why am I yelling so much?! Please review!**

**Oh yeah, here's something I haven't put in a few chapters! I don't own Pokemon! Yay disclaimers! Don't sue me! I'm a broke college student! I have no money!**

* * *

13. In Which May (Sort of) Gets Her Revenge on Team Magma and Darius Wakes Up Again

* * *

Flannery sighed happily as she soaked in the hot springs. It was like heaven on earth, especially when she could enjoy the baths alone as she was just then. There was always at least someone in the sand beds and in the lower hot springs, but not many people could remain in the upper hot springs for long periods of time. They were just too hot. But Flannery had grown up splashing in the steaming waters, and she felt at home in the extreme heat produced by the volcano. There was a small splash and a squeak from the stairs that led into the burning water. Flannery didn't bother the newcomer. Most people only wanted to soak long enough for the heat to warm their bones before they left. However, this person stayed. Flannery could hear them shifting occasionally. She and the newcomer sat in the large hot spring for almost half-an-hour before the other person cleared their throat. Only then did Flannery glace over to them. It was a girl, perhaps just a few years younger than herself with messy brown hair and a sharp smiling face.

"Do you know if Pokemon are allowed to soak in the spring too?" The girl asked. Flannery nodded.

"I'd consider it unfair if they weren't." She said. The girl nodded and waded back to the stairs, returning a minute later with a large Marshtomp and a Taillow. The Marshtomp quickly slid into the water with a contented growl while the Taillow perched carefully on a steaming boulder on the edge of the water.

"I'd heard these springs were a wonderful place to relax, but I hadn't thought I'd need to relax so badly." The girl said. "I feel like my body's made of spaghetti."

"Not many people realize how tense they are until they get a chance to relax like this." Flannery replied.

"Oh, I knew how tense I was. I just hadn't thought that I'd be_ able_ to relax this quickly." Flannery nodded.

"I know how it is." She said sagely. They soaked together in silence until the girl's Taillow hopped across the boulders to sit next to Flannery and began chirping. Flannery lifted a hand out of the water to stroke the bird's feathers lightly and the bird cooed happily.

"Your Taillow's muscles are very well developed." Flannery commented. She glanced at the girl's Marshtomp as well, noting the deep toning the Pokemon had as well. "Same with your Marshtomp. They seem pretty tense too, same as yourself." The girl hmm'ed lowly.

"We've been training pretty hard recently. We're planning on battling the gym leader of Lavaridge too." Flannery couldn't hold back a smile. Quietly she waded over to where her own stuff was sitting in a pile, selecting two of her Pokeballs and turning back to the girl.

"What's you're name?" She asked.

"May." The girl answered.

"Pleasure to meet you May. My name's Flannery." The gym leader introduced herself. May gasped at her name. Both Taillow and Marshtomp also seemed to freeze in surprise. "If you don't mind an odd setting, why not have our battle here? I really don't want to leave the springs just yet anyway." Flannery saw May nod slowly. They both waded over towards one side of the springs; one that Flannery knew had a nice open area that was good for battling. The gym leader released her Slugma and May called for her Taillow.

"Three." Flannery said, looking at May.

"Two." May said, nodding.

"One." They said together, and then, "Go!"

"Slugma, Flamethrower!" Flannery called as soon as the battle started.

"Taillow, sweep out!" May called. The tiny bird quickly flew out of the path of the fire, speeding along close to the ground, sharp eyes on Slugma.

"Flamethrower again!" Flannery called. Slugma used Flamethrower again, but the little bird was still sweeping around, close to the ground. "If that's not working, then we'll just use Overheat!" Flannery said triumphantly, announcing her ace card. May however just grinned.

"Taillow, now use Whirlwind!" The little bird stopped zipping around and began flapping furiously, kicking up a small twister. However, the attack wasn't hitting Flannery's Pokemon, instead spinning uselessly just in front of the fire-type and picking up dirt and sand. Flannery felt herself grinning. Slugma was building up its body heat, but just before he released the attack, May's grin widened. "Now Taillow!" The little bird chirped and suddenly dove right though the whirlwind, striking Slugma just at the Overheat released. Flannery shouted triumphantly as May's Taillow fainted, but she let out a squawk when Slugma fainted as well. May giggled.

"I used Whirlwind to kick up all the loose sand and dirt." She explained. "So that when Taillow used Quick Attack, it would break the Whirlwind and all the sand and dirt would become like an add-on to Taillow's attack." Flannery shook her head as she recalled Slugma.

"I'd have never thought of that." She admitted. "But you won't win this round." She let out her strongest Pokemon, her Torkal, while May whistled for her Marshtomp to join the battle. The types weren't in Flannery's favour, but the woman had her own little advantage.

"Marshtomp, use Water Gun and take Torkal out!" May called. Marshtomp growled and shot a small jet of water, but as soon as it left the Pokemon's mouth the water began evaporating in the heat. In the few seconds it took for the attack to reach Torkal almost all the water had evaporated.

"Your water-type attacks won't work in this heat!" Flannery declared triumphantly. "Now Torkal, use Overheat!"

"Keep away from that Overheat." May cautioned her Pokemon, staring at the battle intently. The Marshtomp nodded and quickly dodged Torkal's attack. Flannery watched May and the battle simultaneously. Suddenly, the girl grinned.

"Marshtomp, use that move you just mastered!" The Pokemon nodded and bent down on all fours, bracing himself before lowering his head and letting out a hard stream of mud. Even as the attack flew through the air the water evaporated, leaving the mud dried into solid bricks of earth. The attack struck Torkal, and it struck hard. On impact the dirt exploded, snuffing out any fire-attack retaliations that Torkal tried to use. In under a minute Flannery's strongest Pokemon had been defeated. The young woman sighed and recalled Torkal to his Pokeball while Marshtomp slipped back into the hot springs with a soft sigh.

"Nice strategy you've got there." Flannery commented, grinning at May. The girl smiled briefly before the smile literally fell off her face and she sighed. Her Marshtomp swam up beside her and nudged her arm lightly. Flannery's chipper mood instantly dampened as well.

"My friend taught me that strategy is key if you want to win." She said quietly.

"Sounds like a good friend." Flannery said, also lowering her voice in respect. They both sat in the water for a few minutes before May cleared her throat.

"Flannery, I was wondering if you've seen any thugs hanging around the volcano recently." Flannery looked at May in surprise and the girl sighed, looking down into the steaming water. "Honestly I don't really know what I'm doing anymore. I'm just trying to think like he probably thought." She paused again. "My friend was investigating some suspicious people recently. Some of them were talking about doing something to the volcano. That's the main reason I came here actually."

"Why don't we head up to the volcano together and see if we can't find these thugs?" Flannery offered. May's head jerked up in surprise and Flannery grinned. "I am the gym leader after all, and it's my responsibility to make sure there aren't any evil-doings nearby. Now come on, let's go check these guys out." May nodded vigorously and grinned sharply, a dangerous fire igniting behind her eyes.

* * *

May and Flannery paused near the top of the volcano. They could hear many voices shouting and Pokemon howling just over the rocky outcrop that separated them from the top of the mountain. Flannery waved for May's attention, frowning.

"Sounds like there's a whole war going on up there." They gym leader commented. May shrugged.

"Let's go see then." She suggested. Upon scaling the rocks, she and Flannery were met with a somewhat strange sight. The entire volcano was crawling with members of both Team Aqua and Team Magma. As Flannery had said, it did indeed resemble a war zone around the volcano. Everywhere May looked members of Team Aqua and Team Magma were battling. And they weren't just battling. In many places May could see the battles had deteriorated into fistfights.

"Which group is the bad guys?" Flannery whispered to May. The girl shook her head.

"They're both bad guys. The ones in red were the ones who wanted to do something to the volcano, but I'm not sure what the hell Team Aqua is doing here."

"Then let's go find out." Flannery suggested with a grin. May grinned back and nodded before climbing out of her hiding place and hurrying into the fray, Flannery hot on her heels. It didn't take long before the girls found themselves getting sucked in. It really was a one sided fight, with five Team Magma members ganging up on a single Aqua. Even though May hated Team Aqua too, she was still seething in fury at Team Magma. So she stepped into the fight, calling on Marshtomp, who quickly knocked the men back.

"Thank you for that young lady." The member of Team Aqua said. May shot him a death glare.

"Don't be mistaken, I only happen to hate those Magma guys ever so slightly more than I hate you Aqua guys. I'm just here to shut all of you up." With that, May walked up to the man and grabbed him by his collar, glaring. Several other members of Team Aqua hollered and ran at her, but Flannery began to chase them off. "You're going to tell me who I need to beat the daylights out of right now to get all of you to clear out or I'll have to assume that will be you." She threatened lowly. The man looked taken aback at being addressed so, but he sighed.

"I suppose if you can do something against Team Magma, it will be enough. We of Team Aqua are only here to stop Team Magma's nefarious deeds. The one in charge of Team Magma's current insane plan is Maxie himself. He should be up on that spur over there." He nodded towards an outcrop of rocks that jutted over the mouth of the volcano. May could vaguely make out the shape of a person and some kind of machine standing at the very edge. May's lip curled back at the thought of getting revenge on Team Magma. The man she'd been in the process of threatening plied her hand off his collar and whistled loudly. At his sound, several other Aqua members broke away from their fights to gather to him.

"Help this girl to reach Maxie!" He commanded. The members of Team Aqua saluted and began running as a mob in the direction of the outcrop the man had pointed out. May spun on him.

"Don't think this mean's I'm on your side buster." She growled lowly. "I have a score to settle with you thieving asses too." With that she spun on her heel, motioned to Flannery to follow her, and began running after the mass of Aquas.

* * *

While May didn't like working even alongside the Aquas, she did like how they hurled themselves at anyone who tried to intercept her, making her job far easier. In no time she was at the outcropping, standing behind the man called Maxie. Flannery had gotten into a fight with one of the tougher members of Team Magma who had been particularly insistent in getting in May's way, and all of the other members of Team Aqua were once again engaged in bloody fistfights. Maxie's head lifted and he turned as May approached him. He smiled.

"So, Archie's called in some kind of backup? That sly fox." May spit on the ground at Maxie's feet.

"I'm not some dim-witted dolt from Team Aqua, nor am I an impulsive shit-head from Team Magma." She snarled. Maxie's eyebrows lifted in surprise at the venom in her voice. "You have a stolen Meteorite, don't you?" She demanded, nodding to the machine behind him, in which she could see the meteorite in question. Maxie glanced at it and shrugged.

"I doubt you'll have any use for it." He said calmly. "I can tell from your voice that there's to be no arguing with you though. Too bad." He pulled a Pokeball from his belt, releasing a huge fire-type Pokemon. "Camerupt," he said to the Pokemon, "why don't you show this girl the wonders of the land?" Camerupt roared and began barrelling towards May, who deftly dodged out of the way. Maxie smiled and turned back to his machine, and May felt her blood boil. She released both Marshtomp and Taillow, both of whom went after Camerupt. As they were fighting, Taillow took on a glow much as Mudkip had when he'd evolved into Marshtomp. The newly evolved Swellow paused briefly to figure out his new body before throwing himself into the fray once again, fuelled by his trainer's raw fury. May allowed her Pokemon to battle as they willed while she went after Maxie. The man was just barely able to shift out of her path before she crashed into him. Much as May wanted to go after Maxie, the man who worked with the bastard that had thrown Darius into the river, she had more important worries. As soon as Maxie was away from the machine, May reached into the chamber where the meteorite was held and ripped out the space rock. Maxie laughed nervously when May turned to glare at him, even as he was forced to recall his now fainted Camerupt. Out of the corner of her eye May spotted Marshtomp and Swellow, the latter of which seemed to be nursing a severely burned wing. Marshtomp was running cool water over Swellow's wound however and May turned her attention back to Maxie.

"Seems I made the mistake of underestimating you child." The man said. "What is your name anyway?" May glared at him.

"That's none of your business." She growled, slowly walking to the side until she was blocking his only route of escape. Or so she thought.

"Boss!" A voice called from somewhere above their heads. May only had enough time to see the woman from Meteor Falls, Marge, sitting on the back of a Swellow before a second Swellow swooped down, catching Maxie by the shoulders and quickly flying the man away. May nearly ran after him but stopped just before she ran off the cliff. Instead she stood on the edge, watching and glaring until the two were out of sight. And then she stayed there glaring at where they'd disappeared until Flannery came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"The guys in blue fled after you'd reached that Maxie guy, and the guys in red fled after your Pokemon took out his Camerupt. I caught one of the guys in red, but he slipped away while I was trying to catch the rest. Sorry about that." May shook her head.

"Don't be. We stopped them from doing whatever the hell they were trying to do, and that'll be good enough for now."

* * *

Darius opened his eyes slowly, allowing his mind to reboot even as his eyes roved over his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that he was in bed, and the second thing he noticed was that his head hurt. But he remembered it hurting a lot more some other time, so he assumed that the fact that it didn't hurt as much now was a good sign. Glancing up at the headboard he spotted a small blue and white Pokemon. It's beady dark blue eyes regarded him curiously before it flapped away quietly. Darius's eyes followed it as far as they could without him having to turn his head. The next thing he noticed was the human-shaped lump that was leaning on the edge of his bed. Someone had pulled a chair to his bedside and fallen asleep there, arms crossed on his blanket to create a makeshift pillow for their head. Darius regarded the back of the person's head curiously. The woman had a mess of brown curly hair that spread across the blanket like water, and she was wearing some kind of green dress from what Darius could make out of her shoulders. A soft flapping sound brought his attention away from the sleeping figure and to the small bird Pokemon that had been watching over him. As it flapped drops of water fell from it's wings, which Darius realized seemed to have absorbed a large amount of liquid. The bird landed on the pillow beside Darius's head and began flexing one of its wings over Darius's mouth, dripping the water into his mouth and down his dry throat.

"Thank you." He muttered roughly, wincing at the deep scratch that still tickled at his throat. The bird eyed him before flying back through the doorway it had gone through earlier, this time returning with a glass of water clutched in its talons. Carefully Darius accepted the glass, drinking slowly. As the water eased the dryness in his throat and moistened his mouth, he began looking closer at his surroundings. The house he was in was a mess, but it had the air of a mess in which everything had its place. On the other side of the room he spotted his backpack on a desk next to a small Pokemon that resembled an acorn. The acorn's eyes were closed however, and Darius assumed it to be sleeping. On the bed opposite the side the person was sleeping on he found Ayashii and Kuraishi curled up, also asleep. Darius glanced around the walls, searching for a clock. He spotted a window and frowned when he saw that the world outside was dark. He glanced up at the Pokemon that had brought him the water. "I don't suppose you know what time it is?" He asked the avian. The bird regarded him thoughtfully before flying over to the desk, snagging something in her claws and returning to his pillow. It was a watch that read 03:05. Darius frowned and glanced back at the Pokemon. Before he could even ask, the bird flew back to the desk and snagged a calendar off the wall, flying it to where Darius could see it. Darius's eyes followed the crossed out dates and nearly choked when he saw the current date.

"I've been asleep for four days?" He hissed to the bird, wincing as the words scraped across his throat again. The bird bobbed her head up and down in confirmation before returning the calendar to the desk. Then she flew back to Darius and snagged his now-empty water glass and flew it back into what Darius assumed to have been the kitchen. Then the bird glided to another doorway and pecked at a lightswitch on the wall, plunging the room into darkness before finally flying back to perch on the headboard again. Darius couldn't help but smile.

"Is that a hint that I should get some more rest?" He whispered to the bird. She stared straight at him before bobbing her head again and closing her eyes. Darius smiled. "Thank you for the water." He whispered before allowing himself to drift back into unconsciousness. Perhaps the next time he awoke his head wouldn't hurt so much.

* * *

When Darius awoke again, his headache was indeed gone. Although, the loud crash that had woken him up and the string of curses that followed threatened its return. Opening his eyes, Darius's attention instantly fell on the woman who was desperately trying to hold up a precarious stack of boxes that were threatening to tip over. The bird Pokemon from earlier was also trying to keep the boxes up, but Darius could see they were slowly failing.

"Ayashii, Psychic!" He croaked, sore throat keeping him from the volume he'd intended. Ayashii, who was sitting on his shin, heard him and took on a purple glow, catching the boxes with her telekinesis and carefully setting them down into two smaller piles. When the boxes touched down, the woman turned and nodded to the boy.

"Perfect timing kid." She said cheerfully. "That was surely gonna hurt!" Darius nodded slowly. The woman walked over and dragged the chair she'd been sleeping in earlier a tad further from Darius's bed before flopping down in it. "My name's Lynette Laurel, but you can call me Lyn. Everyone does afterall." Darius nodded again.

"Darius." He replied hoarsely. Then he thought. "Darius Stellon." Lyn nodded and smiled. The blue and white Pokemon that had tended to Darius flew over and landed by his elbow, eeying him curiously. Darius reached up and began petting the bird. Lyn smiled.

"Swablu here's been watching over you this whole time." She said with a grin, nodding at the bird. Darius nodded.

"Thank you for taking care of me." He said quietly to Lyn and Swablu. They both nodded and grinned.

"Sure thing." Lyn said. "We couldn't have just left you in that river. You'd've died of hypothermia once you hit the ocean and night came." She seemed to think about her statement. "Well, we could have, but my ethics or morals or whatever would never allow me."

"Your conscience?" Darius suggested. Lyn nodded vigorously.

"That's the one!" Swablu waddled over to Lyn and pecked at her arm, causing the woman to yelp and scowl. The bird flew into the kitchen, and just as she had the night before, returned with a glass of water clutched in her talons. Darius gratefully accepted the cup and sipped at the water. Lyn gasped. "I'm sorry! I forgot that your fever had just broken; your throat must still be really sore! And here I am making useless small-talk!"

"It's all right." Darius said with a smile. Then he sighed, suddenly feeling very tired again. But there was one thing he had to take care of. The boy looked down to Kuraishi and the Poochyena uncurled himself, pressing his nose into his trainer's hand. "Kura, can you please find May?" He asked. The Pokemon yipped lowly and Darius smiled. "Both of those gangs have seen her travelling with me now, and with her temper she's bound to get herself into trouble. Just let her know I'm safe and watch out for her, okay?" Kuraishi hesitated before yipping and bounding off the bed and towards the door. Swablu flew to the front door and grabbed the handle with her talons, pulling the door open and allowing Kuraishi to exit. The Poochyena yipped at the bird a few times before Swablu nodded. Seeming satisfied with the nod, Kuraishi dashed out the door and out of sight.

"Are you sure your Pokemon will be okay alone?" Lyn asked nervously, staring at the door even as Swablu closed it and flew back to Darius's bed.

"Kuraishi will be able to handle himself." Darius said with confidence. "I've made some pretty nasty enemies lately, and I'm more worried about my friend. For some reason, even though I've only known her for 5 days," He paused before amending, "9 days, rather. But somehow I just know she's going to get herself into trouble over this." Lyn nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay then. We'll have to get you caught up with your friend ay-sap then, right? You're going to have to get a lot better first though, even for me it's a good 5 hour hike from here to Fallabor, and even further to Rustboro." Darius sighed and nodded.

* * *

**AN: Okay, so I've pretty much run out of things to say in these author notes, so I'll say I'll probably post up to chapter 14 now, and then try and get more up later. Although, perhaps I will mention that this story is going to total about 30 chapters, plus an epilogue that keeps getting bigger, a threatened sequel that really doesn't want to be written, and a ridiculous little one-shot that wrote itself during Christmas. I'd have given it to you then, but there's spoilers in there, so I'll give it do you at the end, when this story is finished. /AN**


	14. May Learns About Darius's Past

**AN: Haboo. Don't ask what that means. I don't know. So! In case you've been following this and you only clicked the most recent update (or for some reason this is the only update you were alerted to), then I've also posted chapters 11, 12, and 13 today. I might get to 15 this afternoon. By the way, what time-zone are my wonderful readers in anyway? I'm on the east coast, in the wonderful little place called New England. If anyone were wondering I suppose.**

* * *

14. In Which May Visits Littleroot and Learns About Darius's Past

* * *

May looked down the hill at her hometown of Littleroot, breathing deeply. It had only taken her a day to get there, and she still had time to get to Petalburg if she didn't dawdle. It had been 4 days since she'd encountered Maxie atop the volcano and stopped him from doing whatever he'd been planning. In that time she'd trained hard with Flannery, and she felt proud. In that time she'd learned something from Flannery as well. But she quickly put it out of her head, instead walking down the hill into the quiet little town that she had lived in almost her entire life. May walked down the familiar pathways, looking around and nodding to her neighbours as they called to her and waved in delight at seeing her return.

"May! Long time no see girl!" May paused at the familiar voice, smiling as her neighbour bounded up to her with a wide, jovial grin on his face.

"You have branches in your hair again professor." She admonished lightly, reaching up and pulling some of the offending wood out of the man's wild brown hair. Professor Birch laughed heartily.

"Whoops! I just came in from the field, see?" May nodded and began walking towards her house again, with Professor Birch following after. "Brendan said he saw you a while back! Said you even met Steven Stone! That's incredible!" May nodded and laughed lightly.

"He seems like a very normal person. A very quiet guy from what I've seen of him." May admitted. Her neighbour nodded, grinning conspiratorially.

"But you know," he whispered to her, "it's the quiet ones you gotta look out for, yeah?" May hesitated, and then nodded.

"Yeah." The professor paused in curiosity at the tone of her voice, but then shrugged and followed after her.

"There's these kids at my lab from another region, I think you'd like them May!" He put a hand on his chin. "Well, either you'd like them, or you'd despise them, I can't really tell. You know, you seem to have changed in these past two weeks. Travelling seems to be doing you some good afterall." May nodded absently while reaching for the key that hung around her neck, unlocking her front door.

"Guess who's come to visit!" Professor Birch called over her shoulder. May allowed him to walk into the house before closing the door behind him.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Her mother's voice called. May walked in and waved to her mother, who waved back with a warm smile on her face. "Your father said you'd gone travelling the region." Her mother said in a gossiping tone, placing the dish she'd been washing in the sink. May nodded and took a seat at the kitchen table as her mother navigated her wheelchair over to be next to her daughter. "He said you'd gone off with a boy." She whispered with a sly grin. May pouted.

"Mom!" She could feel heat rising in her cheeks. "You make it sound like that has something to do with why I chose to travel with him! He's a really powerful fighter! That's it!"

"Oh yeah!" Professor Birch threw in, dragging up another chair from the table and sitting in it backwards. "Brendan mentioned you were travelling with a boy too! Said the kid seemed to have lots of good connections. What's that about?" May shrugged.

"Darius is just really good at getting himself into whatever major thing is currently happening." May commented, thinking of her friend. "Brendan was probably talking about how the President of the Devon Corporation is on first name terms with Darius, and how Darius and I knew Steven Stone as well."

"Well!" Professor Birch exclaimed. "Those are certainly some good connections!" Her mother giggled.

"You've got quite a taste in boys May."

"Mom!" May howled. "I already said-"

"It's not like that." Her mother interrupted with a giggle. "Sure thing, dear." Before May could inform her mother that it really was like that, there was a knock at the front door and May heard it open slowly, unsurely.

"Professor?" A girl's voice called out timidly. "Are you in there?"

"Yo! Prof-man! I'm fining you a million dollars if you don't come back!" Another voice, male this time, hollered. That voice yelped along with a muted thud; the sound of a fist meeting flesh.

"How many times do I have to tell you Barry, be respectful!" The girl's voice growled. Professor Birch's face had gone white and he jumped to his feet while shouting, "Sorry!" He looked down at May quickly and grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her to her feet before dragging her to the door while calling apologies to her mother.

"Sorry Dawn, Barry, I just saw a neighbour who hasn't been in the area for a while and I wanted to say hi. I got distracted." Dawn nodded and smiled but Barry crossed his arms and huffed.

"You're nothing like the old man back home." He commented. Dawn scowled and boxed the boy's ear, causing him to yelp again.

"Both Professor Rowan and Professor Birch are highly respected research authorities. You need to show them both some more respect!"

"Yeah, yeah." Barry sulked, holding his ringing ear.

"May, these are the two trainers I was telling you about." The professor said happily, ignoring his guests' antics. "They're very powerful trainers, and I bet you and Barry would put up a good match. Barry, Dawn, this is my neighbour May." May nodded as Dawn and Barry were introduced, and then she smiled at the professor.

"I'm not nearly as strong as I thought I was to be honest." She said with a small laugh. "Not only could I not beat my father, but a complete stranger was able to come in and knock out both Mudkip and Taillow without even trying." Dawn nodded and smiled.

"Barry knows what that's like." She commented. The boy scowled and stuck his tongue out at her, earning another cuff on the ear. "The thing about strangers is that you can never tell how strong they are until you get to know them."

"Or if they're going to turn out to become a good pal or a freaky psycho." Barry interjected, pouting slightly for some odd reason. May nodded, smiling.

"That stranger was that Darius boy Brendan was talking about, right?" Professor Birch asked. May nodded. At Darius's name however, Barry and Dawn seemed to react. Well, Dawn's eyes widened; Barry launched forward and caught May's shoulders, mouth open in comic surprise.

"Darius Stellon?" The boy asked. Dawn caught him by the back of the collar and yanked him off of May, but she too seemed as desperate as he to know. May thought.

"I don't know. I never learned his last name."

"Why don't you just ask him?" Professor Birch asked. "Weren't you just saying how you've been travelling with him?" Barry and Dawn glanced at each other before looking back at May. The girl looked at all of them and then to her feet with a sigh.

"About, 8 days ago I think, we ran into a group called Team Magma. Up in Meteor Falls. They," May paused, thinking. "We'd gone there to interfere with whatever they were up to. Darius had been standing on the bridge when, when that man destroyed it." May was still staring at her feet, but she heard Professor Birch gasp and her mother, who had come to the kitchen doorway, mutter 'oh no'. Her eyes shot up when Barry laughed though.

"Barry!" Dawn scolded loudly.

"That is so him!" The boy laughed. "Getting caught up in the whole saving the world thing agai- OW!" Dawn had taken her fist and slammed it into the boy's gut, effectively shutting him up. As the boy fell to the floor, curling and moaning, she gave a slight nod to May.

"I'm sorry about this idiot. While I'll admit those actions do sound similar to a friend of ours, there's no guarantee that it's the same person, and this is not a situation you laugh in!" She rounded on the boy at the last part, glaring hard at him. May watched quietly as they began bickering.

"Do either of you know someone named Jupiter?" May asked quietly. At the name, both heads whipped around to face her again.

"The crazy-ass psycho bitch?" Barry asked from the floor. Dawn kicked him.

"I guess we must know the same Darius." Dawn muttered. "Last time I saw her she was screaming that she was going to hunt him down and slit his throat after peeling off every inch of his skin and breaking every bone in his body."

"So, the psycho-bitch." Barry summed up simply, rolling away from Dawn's second kick. May nodded.

"Yeah." She said quietly. Barry looked up at her from his spot on the floor before rolling to his feet and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, grinning widely.

"Thanks for that Miss May!" He said in a chipper tone. "Now we know Darius is up to his usual stuff, and we can tell Special Agent Looker we don't know where he is without lying! It's a win-win!" Dawn huffed and stomped forward, dragging Barry off May again.

"We weren't going to lie to him anyway!" She said forcefully. Barry laughed.

"No, you were going to say nothing and I was going to sweet talk around the whole thing!" Professor Birch frowned.

"Looker? Isn't he that well respected Special Agent with the International Police? What's he got to do with knowing young Darius's location?" Both Dawn and Barry instantly froze. Dawn then punched Barry in the gut again.

"Idiot." She growled before sighing. "Truth is, Darius was sent by Agent Looker to investigate the suspicious gang in this region."

"Gangs." May corrected quickly. "There's two. We've managed to piss off both of them. Team Magma and Team Aqua." Dawn nodded at the information.

"Well, I guess Agent Looker had told him to stay in contact about his progress, but shortly after reaching Hoenn, Darius stopped calling in. I think it was just over two weeks ago. Agent Looker told us that we were to find him and find out why he wasn't responding anymore." Dawn shrugged. "From what you said, he's been doing exactly what Looker told him to do, but he's just not checking in. I wonder why?"

"He just doesn't like having to bow down to the man!" Barry declared before getting kicked in the shin.

"Darius never told me any of this. I actually met him just less than two weeks ago, and by then he'd already gotten into several scuffles with Team Aqua. I just started following him around because I wanted him to teach me how to battle like he did." Barry snorted.

"The guy's a pacifist." He said with a grin, propping one hand on his hip and waving the other in the air. "Won't fight except when he has to. He's all heroic like that." Dawn scowled and punched his gut once more.

"Where is your shut up button and why can't I seem to hit it?" She demanded. The boy just laughed.

"But like I said, it's been about 8 days since the attack and I haven't seen him." May reminded the two. Barry nodded, looking deep in thought.

"8 days sounds like enough time for that guy to bounce back and make an entrance. He's made of rubber." He said with a grin. "All that needs to happen now is for everyone to run into each other and he'll show up!"

"That still doesn't explain why he didn't contact Looker before he got separated from you." Dawn said, finally just ignoring her companion. Barry and May thought too before May snapped her fingers.

"Tyler will know! I'm almost positive!"

"Tyler?" Barry and Dawn chorused. May nodded and led them into the living room. Professor Birch took the arm chair while her mother rolled up beside him. May snagged her PokeNav and sat in the middle of the couch while Barry and Dawn sat to either side of her. She quickly dialled Gabby's number and set it to speakerphone, reminding herself that she really needed to get Tyler's own number at some point too. The cheerful reporter picked up after only a few rings.

"Hey May girl!" Gabby answered happily. "Don't talk, let me guess! One, you're happy because Darius is back on scene and you need to spread the joy. Two, he's back on scene and has agreed to let us make a documentary on you two. Or three, he's not on scene and you need to talk to Tyler about something Darius-related."

"Door number 3 Gabby." May replied with a giggle.

"I should just give you his number." The reporter huffed. There was a clattering from her end of the line and the children heard her yelling for the cameraman. There was a second clatter about a minute later.

"What's up May?" Darius's friend asked.

"Hi Tyler." May greeted. "I've actually got you on speakerphone; I'm sitting on a sofa with two people named Dawn and Barry."

"Ah." Tyler said knowingly. May frowned at the PokeNav.

"Don't say 'ah' like you already know exactly what's happening!" She grouched. There was a pause on the other line.

"I didn't say ah, then. So what's happening?"

"Well now you have to tell me what you know about this!" May cried. Tyler sighed.

"Barry and Dawn are listening too, correct?" He asked.

"We are."

"Righty-o!"

"Alright then, let me ask you two a few questions. I'm assuming Special Agent Looker sent you two to find Darius, correct?"

"Yes, he did." Dawn replied. "How did you know that?"

"Now since I never called Saturn to tell him about the situation and Darius couldn't have called the agent, the question is why Agent Looker felt the need... to search... for..." Tyler's words suddenly drifted off. "He was supposed to be reporting in, wasn't he? Dammit, that's what that weird device in his backpack was for."

"What are you talking about Mr. Tyler?" Dawn demanded. May, who had been thinking quietly herself, suddenly came to a conclusion. She cleared her throat.

"He has amnesia, doesn't he?" She said quietly. Barry and Dawn spun and stared at her open mouthed. Tyler was quiet for a minute.

"You've known since Mauville haven't you?" The cameraman asked finally.

"I'd guessed. It seemed strange that you said his nightmare was a memory, but you still seemed to know more about it than he did."

"Now hang on!" Barry shouted, flapping his hands in the air. "If Darius has amnesia, why's he still going after these gang guys?" He glared at May. "And how would he warn you about psycho-bitch Jupiter if he didn't remember her?" Tyler quickly spoke up.

"Darius had a letter from Special Agent Looker and a letter from Saturn in his backpack when he woke up." The man informed them. "That was his only link to his past. Saturn is a friend of mine and had told Darius to find me in his letter, which is how I know him, and in his letter he also said to watch out for Jupiter because she'd probably come after him."

"I get that." Barry said after a pause.

"So Darius is in Hoenn chasing down these obviously violent criminals, and he doesn't even remember who he is?" Dawn asked, frowning.

"Pretty much." Tyler said. "When he told me, he asked me not to tell Saturn or Agent Looker because he wanted to stop Team Aqua and Magma, and he believed that if we told anyone about his amnesia they might make him leave the case. He'd befriended several people who were actually attacked and robbed by Team Aqua, so he'd made it personal."

"From what I'd seen of Darius." Dawn said with a hand on her chin. "He's not one to make friends quickly. I got the impression that he's a very withdrawn person." Barry huffed.

"You didn't see him after Uxie was taken by Jupiter." The boy said quietly, crossing his arms. "He keeps everyone away because he doesn't want them getting hurt. Of course with relatives like his I don't blame him. But I saw the look on his face. He blamed himself for what happened to Uxie, even though it was my fault." Barry fell silent, looking at his shoes.

"From what I know of that incident, it was Jupiter to blame for that." Tyler commented. Barry chuckled.

"Guess you're right." They were all quiet for a minute before Dawn sighed.

"I guess we should clear up the situation with Looker now." Dawn said. Barry jumped to his feet.

"Are you crazy woman?" He demanded. "These guys just said Darius wanted to continue investigating! You tell Looker and he'll pull Darius out!" Dawn kicked Barry's knee, causing the boy to drop to the floor once more.

"Did you forget why Looker sent us to look for him in the first place?" She demanded. "He suspects that Darius did have something to do with what Cyrus was doing! If we don't report, he'll assume Darius tried to flee and call for his arrest! We were sent to prove that that isn't what he did!" Barry nodded slowly from the floor at Dawn's outburst.

"Why would Darius be suspected? Didn't he help clear that up?" May asked. Barry sighed.

"Yeah he did, but Cyrus is his uncle, which means the police don't trust him." May said nothing as Dawn stood up and pulled Barry to his feet.

"Now that we're done gossiping, we must be going." She said. "Thank you for telling us where Darius is. Or at least, what happened to him. We'll make sure Looker understands what happened and that he won't interfere." May nodded to Dawn and the other girl nodded back. Then Dawn dragged Barry to the door. She tossed him outside before turning back once more. "May?"

"Yeah?"

"When you find Darius, keep an eye on him. He's perfectly capable of dealing with the outside world, but I think the biggest threat to him is his own mind. And with amnesia, he won't be prepared to have to protect himself from himself." May nodded.

"I already knew that. And don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on him after this." Dawn smiled and walked out the door. There was silence for a while.

"So what are you going to do now?" Tyler asked, still being on the other line. May sighed.

"I'm going to keep doing what you said to do. Doing everything except looking for Darius. Both Barry and Dawn seemed to have the same confidence you have that he's fine, so I'll default to you guys. I'm going to head to Petalburg, beat my father, and then I'll just wander around until I find something else to do. And I will probably run into Darius whenever I next run into Team Aqua or Magma."

"I'll keep an eye out too." The cameraman said before hanging up.

"You go girl!" Professor Birch said jubilantly, punching a fist into the air.

"You'll find him dear." May's mother assured her. The girl nodded and stood up, tucking her PokeNav back into her bag. Then she walked out the door in time to see Dawn and Barry climbing on the backs of two giant bird Pokemon and taking to the sky, quickly speeding to the west, disappearing over the tree line. May watched the spot where they'd disappeared, staring at it until finally she shook her head with a smile. Glancing at the sun's position compared to the horizon and guessing by her internal body clock, May decided that she really did have enough time to make it to Petalburg for a fight with her father. Sighing, she set out.

* * *

**AN: So, I'd started writing a prequel for this, telling about Darius's time in Sinnoh, but due to a huge mishap with my computer, all but 2 halves of two different chapters was lost. I'd actually lost the first half of this story too, including stuff I haven't posted yet, but I had a second back-up copy saved on another computer, thank goodness. So, I apologize to people who are curious about the details of what happened in Sinnoh, but you're just going to have to fill it in with you imagination unless I can find a way to recover the data. Anyone know what 'mswrd632' is? I still have the corrupted file on my computer, and whenever I try to open it, I get the message 'Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.' Maybe there's still a hope to recover the story, but it's unlikely. And I cannot start from scratch... /AN **


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